


How could I love a fucking tic tac?

by Whom_you_ask



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Age Difference, Anal Sex, Bisexual Jeremy Heere, Butt Slapping, Consensual Underage Sex, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dirty Talk, Evan Hansen and Jeremy Heere are Step-Siblings, Eventual Smut, Face Slapping, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Getting Together, Happy Ending, High School, Human Jeremy Heere's Squip, Jeremy Heere's Squip Has a Body, M/M, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks, Riding, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:54:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 42,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25481245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whom_you_ask/pseuds/Whom_you_ask
Summary: Jeremy has finished the junior year and is now going to start his senior! Pretty fucking awesome! Though, life has been kicking him and beating him in places. He's trying his best for once to get through it all. During this, Jake invites him and the Squip squad to his cousin's party. While he's there, drinks are accompanied. What happens when a combination of crystal pepsi+Moutain Dew goes down his throat?(Smut will be in Chapters 15 & 16.)
Relationships: Jeremy Heere/Jeremy Heere's Squip
Comments: 3
Kudos: 48





	1. End of Summer

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on wattpad, so now I'm posting it on a03!

Jeremy's POV It's the last week of summer. I can't believe hell is starting next week. Junior year was already something to be anxious about. Now I have to do this shit. I wish I could just lay in my bed all summer. Browsing fanart of anime Nekos. I'm not a furry! I swear! I just.....think they're cute. And Sexy.

Okay, I might be a furry.

_Shush!_

Okay, back to the story.

During the beginning of Summer, I spent my first week crying my eyes out. Why do you ask? Christine dumped me. It wasn't turning out well she said. I mean, I could kind of see that. I bought her a rose. I complimented her on her dress. I talked a lot about how she's smart. Even after all the advice. I still screwed something up.

We're still good friends. Kind of. When we're alone we don't talk to each other nor do we start to have a conversation. It's just....become awkward. Like Evan's awkwardness. Even though I barely talk to him much because of my _awkwardness_ , I can tell he has it a lot.

It also made me kind of depressed. As in killing myself depressed. Though, Michael caught onto how I was acting. He helped me through it. I'm thankful for him doing that.

That was the highlight of my summer. Except for having more masturbating time.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Here I am, laying on my bed. Staring out at the ceiling. My dad is out working and Hei-mom is also working. I don't know where Evan is. He's probably spending time with Zoe. You know, walking with her throughout the woods. Some romantic ass date.

"Why can't I be perfect for someone?" I mumble to myself, rolling to my side. A single tear left my eye. I'm not sad. It happens sometimes when I'm deep in thought. At least...I don't think I'm sad? Ugh! At this point, I don't even know.

 _"You fucking furry, someone is fucking calling you,"_ my ringtone broke my train of thought. "Are you fucking serious?" I groaned while grabbing my phone. Rich and Michael planned this thing for April fools. After all these months, I still haven't gotten rid of it. It's something that does bring a slight smile to my face. Though, it has got me detention many times before. THAT, my friend, didn't go well on my report card.

I looked at who's calling me. Jake? Wait. Why is he calling me?

You know what? Fuck it.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Yo! Jeremy!" Jake shouted across the line. He seemed very excited. I could hear his agitated movements.

"Yeah it's me," I said, rolling my eyes. "What do you need, I want to go back to sleep." Not really. I just want to stay in bed.

"Well the 'squad' and I agreed on going to my cousin's end of Summer party," "I wondered if...you wanted to come?" He asked about his question. Not something I'd suspect of him to do.

"Is Michael going?" I asked, stolidly.

"Funny you mentioned that," Jake chuckled a bit. "He also asked if you were going.

"I'd expect that from Michael," After the bathroom incident, we always stick together now. Also if I go, I could drink and forget about my problems, and possibly catch up with my friends. Both are acceptable.

"Yeah sure, why the hell not," a small smile spread across my face.

"Great! The party is at 6:15! See you there!"

I hung up before him. My phone lay on my chest as I gaze up at the ceiling. This should be fun I try to argue with myself.

_Knock Knock_

"J-Jeremy?" a nervous voice asked me. Evan. What is he doing?

"Yeah?" I asked nonchalantly.

"My m-mom wanted t-to know if you w-wanted to come with us for l-lunch?"

As if right on queue, my stomach rumbled. Wait a second. It's already lunchtime? 'Shit'. I mean, free meal.

"Yeah, sure, I could grab a bite." I heard Evan walk away from my door. I groaned as I rolled out of bed. It's my room. I could do whatever I want to get out of bed.

 _12:36_ is what the time said on my phone. Another day. 

I grabbed my usual striped shirt, my blue cardigan, and a pair of jeans. I took my phone and put it in the pocket of my jeans. I grabbed my shoes on the way out the door. I tried putting on my converse but my hair kept on blocking my view. "Mother fucker just-"

"Woah!" I screamed as I tripped down the stairs. "Ow!" "Agh!" "GAh!"

My chin met the floor of the house. Everything hurt. I think I broke something. I don't know, maybe I did. Maybe I didn't.

I let out a groan as I tried to bring myself up. Evan and....mom? Yeah. Mom. They're already in the car. I grabbed the railing on the stairs and looked around. Some of the things I can see well but the others are kind of blurry.

My body had a limp as I tried my best to walk to the car. A continuous stinging formed on my knee. I've been through worse.

I whimpered as I remembered the pain of the Squip. Some memories flooded back and a few tears let out. I traced one head over my scars as a memory came back.

**JEREMY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?**

**ARE YOU SO BRAINDEAD THAT YOU CAN'T FOLLOW MY ORDERS?**

_zap._

"I c-can't go out," I told myself. I leaned against the wall as I took out my phone.  
~~~  
Jeremy: _Sorry mom, I think I'm going to stay here to eat._

Heidi: *** (...)

Heidi: _That's fine! :P I hope that you'll be fine_  
~~~

I smiled as Heidi added the little emoji thing. A nice subtle thing.

I stumbled upstairs to the bathroom to inspect my injuries and take a shower. I turned on the bathroom light and- "OH SHIT" I screamed. My nose is trickling a bit of blood and my chin is chafed a bit. Some splots of blood.

Like, I already knew that my face is fucked up but this looks even more fucked up. I went up right into the mirror to get a good look. My forehead is a bit bruised but that's all it.

My stare-down in the mirror trailed my eyes to look at my body shape. It might have been my shirt, but I think I'm fat. I lifted my shirt a bit to see my stomach.

My stomach bulged out a bit and some scars from the Squip are there. Some show of muscle is there but not much. I let go of my shirt and hugged my body.

I looked in the mirror and took a look at my face. My ears were big. My nose sort of poked out in this weird shape. My eyes are a basic type of color. Blue. Not special or anything.

I couldn't look at myself anymore. "Why do I have to be this way?" I sighed. I grabbed a towel from the cabinet below and threw it over the shower curtain.

"Maybe a shower could clear my thoughts."

I turned the shower knob on and waited for the shower water to heat. During that time I got some new clothes and took off the ones I had at the moment. Okay, I didn't go anywhere so why throw them in the hamper? I'm too lazy to fold them back up so there they go.

I stepped into the shower and let the hot water flow onto my skin. The water stuck my chin a bit. It went away quickly though.

I did the routine of taking a shower and took a nap.

~~~

Jeremy POV

Jeremy~

**Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeremy~**

JereMY~

"Gah!" I screeched.

The first thing that caught my eye is the lack of light around my room. It's pitch black. I can't even see the outline of my desk. My vision felt blurry and hazy, but it all feels so real. Like, I can't place it, but I know I'm in a dream and another part of me thinks it's real. Now they're fighting over which is true. I take a glance around.

Wait a second.

Is this even my room?

I look around in panic as I take in my surroundings closely. The blackness looks like goo the more I stare at it. It could just be my vision doing weird things as I stare for a while though. Another thing I see is that I'm not laying in my bed. I'm just laying on air. Out of panic, I curl up in a ball and brace for landing. Nothing happens.

"What is happening?" I whimper a bit as a small pain goes up my arm. When I look to see what it is, there is nothing and I can't control it. No matter how hard I believe in this dream. I want the pain to go away. I want to wake up at home, in my bed, surrounded by all of my blankets.

I scurry out of the air thing I was laying on. Even so, I still can't figure out what I was laying on. I start to run for it. Something is behind me and I can feel it, so I keep on running. No looking back. I start breathing heavily as the blackness starts to stick to my legs, making it impossible to run. It reminds me of being in the ocean.

"W-What!?" I shout as I try to swat away the goo. It starts sticking to my hand.

"Did you think you could defeat me?" a familiar voice rang through my ears. A voice that I never want to encounter again. I get knocked onto my knees. My whole body started to shiver. It's weird. If I wasn't scared before, I sure am now. It sort of feels like a dull fear because of the dream. Now it's making me shiver in fear. I want it to stop. Then I turned around to face the person or whatever is there.

When I turn around, I see a face that I never want to see again.

No.

It can't be.

It's him. It's t-the SQUIP. There is no way in hell that he manifested himself in my dreams. It's not possible, he can't be real. This is just part of a nightmare that I should get out of.

" **I'm cOMING FOr YOu Jeremy** ," he said. It came out more distorted as it progressed though. Then the goo finally reached my mouth and I couldn't breathe. Through my eyes, I could see him laughing menacingly. It's all black. My vision is black and I think I'm tasting death and despair. At least, that's what I think I'm tasting. It just feels like this is what it would taste like.

" **It's only a matter of TIME, and I'll be WAITING for** ," the Squip had said deeper and more of a growl. Something I will never tell anyone, and hate to admit to myself if I wasn't scared shitless right now, the way he said that is kind of a turn on.

Then I woke up.

' What happened?' My thoughts were interrupted when my window opened. Even though it was Michael, I still got spooked. "Is someone finally murdering me?" I asked out loud.

"It's just me, your loyal gay homeslice to the end."

Of course, I have the trust to keep the window unlocked for him. I sit up in bed. I looked at the clock and realized that it's 5:45 in the afternoon. Damn, I slept in for a while.

"Hey, Michael!" I reply with a smile. He did a dab when he landed. I rolled my eyes. He's such a dork, but I owe him so much.

"How have you been?" I asked. He tossed me something. "Hey, what the heck?" I complained. When I grabbed the item it seemed like some sort of clothing. I looked

"I spent money for you," Michael said dropping another item of clothing on my lap. I examined it better and concluded it's a suit.

"Wha- Why would you get this for me?" I asked pointing at the clothing. "Because you, my friend," he said pointing back at me "is getting a girl or a guy to hook up with at this party we're going to."

"Just because I'm wearing something fancy doesn't mean I'll get someone," I argued.

"I beg to differ because it'll show that you're hella rich and that you have standards," Michael said putting the blazer through my arms. There was no way I was getting out of this. He gave me a reassuring look.

"Also, these probably will make you look cute and sexy," Michael picked up the clothes and shoved them in my face.

"You are my best friend, Michael," I said, grabbing the dress pants.

"And I got that on tape and we are set!" he tapped on his phone and picked up a bottle of Crystal Pepsi.

"wha-, I'm- excuse-, y-," I stammered. He looked at me and did finger guns.

"You're a dork, bro," I said putting the rest of the clothing under the sheets. I'm self-conscious of my body, okay!? I felt weird in the suit. It doesn't feel normal at all. I hugged myself walking out of the room.

"How come you're not all 'fancy' and 'princess-y' going to this party?" I saw Michael holding out his hand in the sense that I'll take it. I took it and we walked down the stairs in grace.

"Well you see, this night isn't about me-,"

He was cut off by me slipping on one of the steps. I winced when I made an impact on the chin of my face. Michael looked at me with a worrying glance but then stopped when I started to get up. I rubbed my chin a bit to see if it is bleeding.

"It's about you getting laid by a girl," he said doing his thinking face. "Or maybe a guy." I blushed at the statement. It never sprang to mind about me getting laid with a guy before. I wouldn't even know if I'd be the top or the bottom. The more I think about the more pros and cons there are. Also, part of my mind thinks that I'd be at the bottom of the scenario. God, I have no confidence at all.

"A guy might be an interesting adventure because you've never dreamed about them before," Micheal had a jump in his attitude like he is looking forward to it.

My face turned a deep red. Indeed, I've never had a wet dream with a guy. Not even Michael. Just thinking about it is weird. Guys aren't that bad in my opinion. They are hot, caring, and getting dicked down might not be that bad. The more I thought about the more I realized how bisexual I am. I looked down and took a few deep breaths.

I stopped in place for a few minutes. I hadn't dated since Christine. _'What if I screw this up?'_ I thought to myself. All the possibilities started to flood my mind. _'What if I don't find someone and I'm lonely forever?'_ I started to chew on my lip.

"Am I good enough for the person?" I whispered to myself. I look around the room and I see a mirror to my side. In that mirror stood a reflection of myself. Acne scars were in odd parts of my face. My cheeks are still rosy red from blushing. Then there is the sweating that is from all over. When will I stop being so awkward?

I touched the reflection in the mirror. It felt cold but my hands warmed it up.

"I can do this," I whispered under my breath.

"Just go to that party and......chill," Micheal put his hands on my shoulders and pat them. I relaxed a bit. I patted down my shirt and tie and brushed his hands off my shoulders. Michael is coming with me so it's fine. Everything will be a-okay.

I walked out of the front door to see Michael with a more casual hoodie and dress pants on and in the new P-T cruiser he got. He loves that thing even though he's had it for less than a week. I walked down the front lawn with a sudden burst of confidence. Then I hopped in the front seat with excitement. Some nervousness hid in my stomach.

Today is the day. Not the day I die, but the day I find someone. Hopefully.


	2. This isn't so bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone hangs out and catches up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have some other stories, so I'll be posting every week hopefully.

The beeping of the car started as Michael put the key in the ignition. It reminded me of when he used to drive me to places when my dad couldn't. He had always honked when the clock turned just on the time. It always made me laugh and it never angered me. Michael is the best friend that I could ever have. 

I buckled my seat belt in and leaned back into the car seat. Michael turned on the music on his phone. The same Bob Marley songs as always. I'm not the type to sing or listen to music in the car. Maybe because I don't know what to put on and I think it would be a distraction if I ever drive. The thing is that I don't drive at all. 

"Are you sure the squad will be there?" I asked him, rubbing my pants to get rid of the sweat forming. 

"Yeah, I'm 90% sure," he made a right turn. 

I bit my lip as we parked on the side of the street. You could see many cars pulling up and being parked. There were lines of cars going down the entire street. There is no parking anywhere except for the other side of the neighborhood. Which is where we parked. 

You can hear the music and voices of the party from where we're standing. I see people knocking on the door and then more people are coming at the door. 

The chilly air hit my face as I walked toward the house. Michael is right behind me as we cross the street. We looked both ways before we crossed the street, for your information. The suit I'm wearing doesn't provide much warmth. It also makes me feel uncomfortable. 

We walk up the path to the front door. I examine the front yard. The grass is perfectly green and trimmed well. Between the driveway are bushes cut out like fish. Surrounding the bushes was a type of polished material. I take a shaky breath as I approach the door. Everything here looks fancy and I feel weird for being here. 

Michael rings the doorbell and sticks his hands in his hoodie pocket. I looked around and saw some other people coming to the door. Four girls came running up to us at the front door. They hand no costumes. Weird thing is that they look shockingly familiar.

That's when it hits me. It's Jenna, Brooke, Chloe, and Christine! 

"M-Michael," I nudge for him to turn around. He rings the doorbell again and turns around. His face is just as surprised as mine. 

"Jeremy!" Brooke calls as she runs at me. Her yellow cardigan dangling past her legs. Before I can react I'm being engulfed in a hug. I'm frozen in place as she hugs me tighter. I turn my head toward Michael, giving him a look that I need help. He just laughs and pokes Brooke. 

She lets go and goes to hug Michael. 

"I missed the two of you!" she stopped hugging and looked at both of us. Chloe approached Brooke and smiled at us. 

"Brooke I'm in heels, you need to not run so fast," Chloe wrapped a hand around her waist. 

"Oh my god," I heard a voice say. Jenna is up on the steps holding her phone at me. Instinct forces me to duck, so I do and curl in a ball. I hear the doorbell ring and look between my fingers. 

Jenna has put her phone away and mouths 'Sorry' to me. I smile and get up. I pat down my dress pants. 

"Jeremy!" I hear another voice say. It's Christine. That voice of hers can be heard from a mile away. It's so distinctive. 

Christine doesn't hug me, but she jumps up and down. I smile at her and turn around. The door finally opened and Jake is at the door. A smile spreads across my face as it's not a person I don't know. Then it could have got awkward. 

"Hey, guys!" Jake greets us and welcomes us in. "I'll catch up with you guys in a few, I need to help out my cousin." 

We nod and turn to sit in some tiny living room. It's away from the main party area and it isn't that far away from the bathroom. Rich is sitting there, waiting for us. He gave us a wave and drank the rest of his drink. 

I sat down next to Michael. Which is across from Rich. Everyone wanted to say something, but no one dared to start a conversation. It truly has been a while since we all talked. 

After an awkward silence, Jenna broke it with a question.

"Jeremy, since when do you ever dress fancy?" Jenna snickered a bit and took another picture. 

I tried to hide my face a bit in my hands. It feels uncanny having a question directed at me. Even after all we've been through as friends, I still don't like the attention. Michael saw my anxiousness and spoke up for me. 

"I bought the suit for him," he pats me on the back. "I thought he could find someone at this party." 

Chloe had an unimpressed look on her face. She stood up and walked over to me. 

"You are not getting a girl with that awkwardness of yours and this suit," she said, grabbing my arm. "Rich, you've fucked with Jake in this house before, right?" 

Rich gave a brisk nod and tried to hide in his hand. 

"Where does he keep his clothes?" Chloe put her hand on her hip. 

"I'll show you," Rich offered. 

My face blushed a deep red at Chloe being so demanding in this situation. Of course, Rich brushed it off as nothing and guided Chloe to where they needed to go. She has such a strong grip. It's going to leave a mark. I looked back and saw Michael giving me a thumbs up, then he started talking to everyone else. 

We headed up a pair of stairs. Everything is so clean. You can't hear the music much anymore. This is weird. Rich and Chloe dragged me into a room. 

It doesn't look that bad. There is a nice, huge bed in the middle and a tv in front of it. The bed looks about king-size to me. I face plant into the bed and sigh in content. It's comfortable. 

I close my eyes and hear Chloe rummaging around the place. Rich seems to be helping her out as well. 

I sit up in bed and ruffle my hair. Dandruff flies over the place and I groan. My dad says that I just need to apply shampoo daily, but it doesn't work. I've never really felt like going to the dermatologist because I'm too scared to walk into the doctor's office. 

"Here," Chloe threw me a pair of navy blue dress pants and a baggy hoodie-type shirt. 

The shirt had golden colored dots on it. It looks pretty stylish actually. The dress pants looked like mine but more expensive and tighter. Chloe also found a yarn bracelet to tie around my arm. She held my wrist and did a double knot. 

"Go change," Chloe gestured to the closet behind her. She held her hand on her hip and smiled. Rich had left and headed to the group downstairs. I smiled at her, grabbed the clothes, and walked to the closet. 

There is no light in the closet, so I have to wing it on which side I'm putting it on. I took off my blazer and my shirt. Then I felt for the tag. Bad news, there is no tag. Instead, I looked for where the neckline is. 'Found it!' I thought happily.

When I slipped it on, it wouldn't go down my body. Every time I tried to get it down, it sounded like it is ripping. Now I'm trying on the pants. I strip my dress pants down and grab the navy blue ones. They slip on perfectly. Hugging just the right parts it feels like. 

I step outside the closet. Chloe looks at me in confusion. I still have my insecurities about my body, so I cover my body with my arms. I hand her the shirt. 

"It wouldn't go on and I didn't know w-what to do, so," I chuckled. Chloe rolled her eyes. 

"That's the point," she held my arms up. "It's supposed to be tight as fuck." 

She shoved my arms through the sleeves. I groaned at the tightness. It felt weird. I've always clothes that would hang past my stomach. This is just barely cutting. However, Chloe got the shirt down and it feels warm. The insides are fluffy and nice and the outside seems thick. 

"Now you look cute and welcoming," she did finger guns at me. 

I smiled and looked for a mirror. One is hanging in the bathroom. There stood myself looking like a fuck boy. Honestly, my face ruins the entire look and my hair. I try to position my hair so it looks like I didn't just wake up and go to his party with a bedhead. 

"I found this beanie that could complement your look," Chloe put the beanie on my head. The beanie had a yellow surrounding with a white tuff at the top. It also covered up my hair pretty well. 

"Now, let's do something about your hair." Chloe had turned me around and grabbed a come. 

The beanie had covered up the backside of my hair, but Chloe repositioned it so that it hanged at the side. Now the left side of my hair showed up. Though, she worked her magic and straightened it out. 

She damped a towel with water and ruffled my hair with it. Part of my vision was covered in my hair, but that's fine. Next, she used a pencil from her purse to roll parts of my hair on. I don't know the point of this at all. 

"Hold these, please, and don't let go until I say so," Chloe directed me. I reluctantly did so and waited for her to find the thing. "Where the hell is the goddamn blow dryer!" she yelled out. I turned around to try and help her find it. 

I checked the cabinets near the sink. Not in this one, nope. All of them were filled with hair gel and deodorant. Why fill up the cabinets with this? You have a place for them behind the mirror. 

"Found it!" Chloe sighed with relief as she plugged it in. My hands were still holding the pencils. "Hold still." 

I let go of the pencils as she took them. Warm air is now being emitted from the blow dryer onto my scalp. It felt weird not having it anywhere else to warm up my body. I shuffled a bit in place. Chloe scolded me and told me to stay still. I groaned in protest. 

Eventually, Chloe pressed the button to stop and took out the pencils. Curls fell onto my face. I turned around and looked into the mirror. I don't even look so bad anymore! The beanie and hoodie shirt match and the navy blue dress pants hug the perfect parts of my body. A little charm is added because of the light blue and pink yarn braided bracelet. Then the curly part of my hair looks stunning. 

This is something I can get used to. 

"I don't look terrible anymore!" I cheered. 

"You never looked that bad, to begin with, I just gave you clothes that I thought would get people to dance with you," Chloe rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. I turned to her and gave her a thankful smile. 

"Now, let's show everyone the new look on you!" Chloe held out her phone for a picture. I still blocked my face with my hand. 

She scoffed and walked out of the bathroom to go downstairs and join our squad. I watched her leave and looked at myself again in the mirror. You know, I would never admit it, but these dress pants make my ass look amazing. Also, I would never admit the fact that the hoodie shirt hugs my curves perfectly. 

I clicked my teeth and did finger guns at my reflection. "Looking good," I said. Then I immediately regret doing that. Thank god it's only me in here. The cringe is unbearable. 

I brushed some of the hairs back into my hoodie and walked downstairs.


	3. I drank this thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Make the most of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sexual assault, but it's not by the Squip so-

I headed down the stairs. My steps faded out as I went further down. The darkness that was upstairs creeped me out and I tried to get down as fast as possible. This party gave me creeps and I don't know why. It didn't help that the steps were wooden and not carpeting. It made me hold the railing for dear life. 

In the end, I made it downstairs in one piece. 

I turned the corridor and tried to find out where my friends were. When I did, everyone was sitting down and laughing. Jake had started to say something then stopped himself. Soon enough, everyone started laughing and mimicked what happened. It brought a weak smile to my face. 

Then I had crept out of the darkness of the house. When I stepped into the light, everyone looked at me. 

Oh god, everyone looked so shocked. I didn't like the fact that they were all staring, including Michael. Out of instinct I hid my face in my hands and looked down to find my way to sit back next to Michael. Nobody said anything as I removed my hand. I hugged myself and hunched over. A few more seconds of silence until Jenna spoke up.

"Damn Chloe!" she shouted. "You made Jeremy look fire!" 

I looked up at her and she took a picture. I didn't even flinch this time. My cheeks were growing a little red from embarrassment. She seemed to already be texting it to everyone. Her fingers were like fire on that phone of hers.

"Why thank you, Jenna, I truly am a makeover goddess~," Chloe said in a pompous tone. She then swayed her shoulders from left to right. I chuckled at that. 

Michael slapped his hand on my back in a bro kind of thing. The impact almost made me fall off the couch, but I caught myself just in time. I rubbed the spot on my back where he hit. He gave me a worrisome smile and I waved it off to him saying that it's fine. 

"You look amazing Jer!" Michael gave me a hearty smile. He honestly is the best friend I could have. 

I straightened my posture and let myself sink into the sofa. Then everyone else started spitting out compliments. Some of them were directed to Chloe. A blush spread across my face at what my friends had to say about my new look. A loose strain of hair fell from the beanie and I pushed it behind my ear. 

"Chloe, could you do me later?" Brooke had her chin on her palm in a somewhat bored expression and whined. "I look ugly and I want to look pretty!" 

"That's what she said," I heard Rich mumble to himself. Jake looked at him with a "what the fuck" type of look. That made me laugh into my hand quietly. The music had started to get louder and we had to shout our words. 

Drinking water didn't seem to cut my throat since I still feel thirsty as fuck. Chloe and Rich got into a competition on who had the most styles of clothing in their wardrobe. To be honest, I'm surprised that Rich had named off so many things. He doesn't seem like the type of person to have all of them in his closet. 

Christine got up from sitting next to Jake to sitting next to Michael. I am having my habitat on the side of the couch. My mind tried to pay attention to what they were saying. It just sounds like they're catching up for the lost time. Christine then shows Michael some pictures on her phone about something and they start laughing. 

"I'm going to go and get some sodas and possibly alcohol if there is any left," Jake had waved us off. Jenna had asked for some more water. Jake responded with a loud hum. He walked into the crowd of party people to get to the kitchen. 

My chin sat on the palm of my hand as I stared blankly at the coffee table in front of me. 

"Good thing I brought my own refreshments!" Michael then proceeded to slam a bottle of something on the table. I jerked up in surprise to see him crossing his arms proudly. A bottle of Crystal Pepsi stood on it. 

Brooke started laughing and tried to hide it in her hand. Some hair fell and covered her left eye. She then brought her hair to hang off of her shoulder. Jenna and Chloe both looked at each other, then at Michael in confusion. Rich didn't seem to be bothered because he probably has seen Michael buy this stuff in the back at Spencer's gifts. Christine seemed just as intrigued as Michael. I forgot that he brought it.

Michael then put the bottle back in his arms to twist the cap off. The bottle cap went off with fizz and some bubbles dribbled out. 

"What the fuck is this, Michael?" Chloe asked, gesturing her hands at the bottle and scrunching her face. Brooke started to take deep breaths to calm down. Then Jenna just nodded to what Chloe had said. Rich seemed to be waiting for Jake and didn't engage in our conversation. 

"It's a bottle of Crystal Pepsi!" Michael and Christine said at the same time. She did some jazz hands and smiled widely. All I did was smile and pull my hoodie sleeves over my hands. 

"But why?" Chloe held her hands out in a questioning position. Brooke had leaned over to see it better. Jenna took a picture of it and put her phone away.

"Well, it's like regular Pepsi, but it's just clear!" Michael pushed it towards the girls. Christine scooted to the other side of the couch to join in with them as well. I also scooted towards Michael to lean over and get a better look. 

It's not something new that I see Michael showing off his stash of discontinued 90's soft drinks. He always has more than one available in his house. I've seen it before. Christine is always a bit more interested in his collection of them than I am. She's tried some of them before when she joined us for video games. 

"It was discontinued in the '90s, so that's why you don't see it in the stores," I gave a weak laugh and sat up straight. Chloe ahhed in acknowledgment. It was nice to see Brooke just as interested in this as Christine. This night is out turning pretty well. 

"Could I try it?" Brooke had looked up at Michael with a hopeful grin. Chloe chuckled a bit and started talking with Jenna about something and showed each other stuff on their phones.

Christine also chimed in right after Brooke. "I'd like to have some again if you don't mind." Michael ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his hands on his pants. He nodded and we waited for Jake to come back. Hopefully with cups for us. Also some more than water.

The rest of the time we waited, Rich, is on his phone texting someone and smiled each time the phone rings with a message received. Part of me finds it weird he doesn't keep it on silent, but the other part isn't going to judge him. I stare at him for a while, lost in thought, and also trying to figure out what he's doing. He then sees me and turns off his phone. We exchange a smile for a second and start some small talk.

Just a little bit of "How are you doing?" and "What did you do today?" We both felt a little awkward and joined in on the conversation Michael and the girls were having. 

Jake then appeared to join us with soda and alcohol bottles under his arm and red solo cups in his grasp. He then handed a bottle of water to Jenna. His hair is all over the place and he's kind of sweaty. The faint redness of hickeys is on his neck and it looks like he was trying to fight someone off of him. He jumped on the sofa that Rich is sitting on and placed the drinks and cups down. 

"Sorry I took so long, something happened and I had to deal with it," Jake rubbed his arms and leaned closer to Rich. They exchanged looks and it looked like they understood. Everyone else stayed stiff for a moment before they had their eyes on the drinks. 

Jenna had uncapped the water bottle and started downing it. She stopped at half of the bottle to breathe. She then wiped some water droplets running down her mouth. Everyone else had alcohol except for Christine, Michael, and me. Rich and Jake clanked their cups together and chugged them down. 

Before Brooke drank her alcohol, Michael had poured her a cup of Crystal Pepsi to try. Brooke looked eager to drink it and was bouncing up and down in her seat lightly. Christine then poured herself a cup and drank it immediately. 

For some reason, I grabbed a red solo cup with nothing it in. Then I just sat there, holding the empty cup in my hand. It just felt like I should be waiting for someone to pour something into it. I can't place it, but it feels like I don't have control at the moment. 

Voices are speaking around me, but they're being blurred out by something that I can't place. Jake said something that I think was directed to me. Everyone had gone silent, I think. Then I blink out of my daze when Michael waves his hand in front of my face. I looked around quickly for a second then nodded. Though, I don't know what I just agreed to. 

The solo cup in my hand has then been added some weight to it. When I look down in the cup, it's Mountain Dew. I opened my mouth to speak, but I'm taken aback by my stammering, and my eyes dilating. Michael then put his hand on my shoulder and gave a questioning look. 

"You going to drink it?" he asked, tilting his head. I leaned to the right a bit and saw Brooke giving me two thumbs up. Chloe gave me a weak smile. Jenna shook her water bottle and saw that it was empty. Then she got up to probably get another one.

"What's in it again?" I asked, holding the cup in two hands now. 

"Jake had dared you to try a combo with the Crystal Pepsi and Mountain Dew," Christine had interjected herself into the conversation. "Brooke did it right now, or like a few minutes ago, I think." 

Her ADD got her lost in thought for a second. It got me thinking that I should at least try and enjoy this party. Am I right? No? Yes? Okay, it doesn't matter, but I'll drink this for my friends. They probably all think that I just don't want to try the taste. Only Michael understood about the mountain dew with the whole Squip thing. At least I think he understands. 

He gives me a reassuring smile and whispers that it's not bad and that he's had it before. I return a weak smile and bring the cup up to my lips. 

All I take is one sip and I peel the cup away from my lips. That taste doesn't sit well. My clumsy ass hands almost drop the cup on the couch and my clothes. I start coughing and gently place the cup down on the coffee table. It tastes like sugar, carbonated water, and something thick all mixed into one thing. Trust me, it doesn't sit well. My throat feels clogged now. 

I hold up a hand to let everyone know I'm fine. Now that the coughing died down, the after taste is pretty good. Something inside me feels weird. It's like all of a sudden a fizz went through my head and the rest of my body. I'm sure it's nothing. All I drank was something being mixed and it's probably why Crystal Pepsi is discontinued.

My friends ask if I'm okay and I nod and smile. Brooke slumped in her seat because she felt lifted out for being the only one who tried the combination. Chloe rubbed her head to be nice to her. Jenna came back with more bottles of water a little later. 

"Do you guys want to dance?" Rich had asked everyone and adjusted himself in his seat. No one seemed to object to his question and started to get up. 

It all went by so fast as I tried to not stammer and stutter. Chloe dragged Brooke out to the dance floor. Jake and Rich had gone upstairs into the darkness. They were probably going to do things that I shouldn't intrude on. This now left Michael, Christine, and me to grab everything. 

"You ready to be the only sober ones left on the team?" Michael bent over a bit and crossed his arms in a joking manner. 

Christine laughed and covered her mouth with her hand. "Of course!" 

They both turned to me and gestured to the hallway which leads to the dance floor. I could already hear some moans coming from it, and the sound of people laughing and singing drunkenly. It brought out a shy laugh in me and I shrugged. You know, might as well do something crazy. 

I'm going to try and get out of my shell. 

~~~

Okay, I don't know how long it's been. All I know is that I started dancing with other people and they started touching me. Being myself and too nervous and shy to do anything, I just let it happen. It wasn't anything bad though. It was just the boy or girl caressing my cheek and rubbing their hands on my waist. 

Then before it could progress any further, a song would come on and they would lose interest. I let out a sigh of relief and saw Michael and Christine on the couch. They seemed to be talking about something and let out laughs here and there. 

Some song was playing on the speakers. I'm the only one that's just standing around in the middle of the dance floor. The song sounds familiar. Oh wait, I know the song! It's "Somebody to Love," by Queen. People seem to be digging it since now they are getting partners to act things out with. 

It felt weird to not be doing anything in that pile, so I walked to the wall. On the outskirts of the party floor. Other people were on the wall too. They looked like they wanted to be out of here as soon as possible. I was about to join Christine and Michael when someone had greeted me.

"Hey~," someone spoke next to me. It came out smooth and calming. 

I turned to the side and smiled. "Hello!" 

' that sounds so awkward, Jeremy!' I thought to myself. This person is a guy and he's kind of cute. I've never seen him before though. His hair is parted to the side and has poofed-up hair. Not like an afro, but enough to have it go up and down when you walk. He has a palm tree printed dress shirt that looks too tight for him. Then he's wearing a pair of casual jeans. 

"Do you want to get out of here and walk around?" the man had trapped me from going anywhere and it made it get a little antsy. I couldn't speak up since he continued talking. 

"You look sexy, cutie~," he flirted with me and gave a lick of his lips. "Maybe we could head to my place later and do something else if you know what I mean." This guy had started to run his hands up my hoodie shirt thing and started kissing on my neck. 

I couldn't even get away from him at all. He had me in his grasp. I whimpered to myself as he started to suck and form a hickey on my neck. His hands had roamed all over my chest and I didn't like it. 

"Why don't we head out, ba-," the man was cut off with a punch to the face. He fell to the floor in pain. 

When I looked at the other side of me, and Michael was there with a little bit of blood on his knuckles. Christine made eye contact with me and ran towards me. She looked at me with a worried look and hesitated to touch my shoulder. I held her hand and looked at Michael. He pulled out his car keys and nodded toward the door. 

It feels like the right time to go. 

Some people had gone to help the man up from the floor while Michael and I walked out the front door. I told Christine on the way to tell everyone else we left and to say goodnight for us. She waved goodbye and headed into the crowd.

~~~

The rest of the car ride felt tense. Michael kept on sighing and didn't say anything. I tried to get a conversation going, but my mouth wouldn't produce words. I got a few texts from Christine which just said that she hopes I'm okay. I don't respond to them because I don't even know if I'm okay. 

I mean, the realization of what happened hasn't hit me yet. It's probably bad since I'm still a minor and I'm almost eighteen. Almost eighteen. My birthday is in November and I just realized how close that is. 

The man was probably drunk too. It's not his fault. I don't think at least. Is this bad that I'm thinking of it his way? I don't know at this point. Now I also realized how tired I am. I almost pass out in Michael's car, but I don't because he would hate to drag me to my room. 

Soon enough Michael pulls into my driveway and I let myself out.

"Hey dude," Michael pauses for a moment and I turn around. "Call me tomorrow if you want to talk about what happened, and call the authorities, please," Michael had used those eyes that made me want to cry. This is when I knew he was serious. 

"I will," I wave to him and gave him a goodnight hug. 

Heidi, my mom, opens the door before I could even knock on it. She told me to go to sleep and smiled at me. I feel bad because she looks like she just got up to open the door for me. I smile at her and walk up to my room. 

That's when I feel it.

"Ow!" I scrunch my eyes and put a hand to my head.


	4. Oh no

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's back.

The pain is all too familiar to me. It just appeared out of nowhere and I don't know what to do. I'm trying my best not to scream at the top of my lungs as the pain hits everywhere in my body. Everyone else is sleeping and I don't want to attract attention to what is happening.

**TARGET ISN'T ACCESSIBLE**

There is no fucking target at all! I fall to the floor of my bedroom. A loud thump could be heard and I saw my phone fall next to me. My breathing elevated and I can't breathe too well. It feels like I'm having a panic attack. The shocks are coming in pulses and they ring throughout my entire body. This hurts worse than the last time.

**CALIBRATION IN PROGRESS, PLEASE EXCUSE SOME MILD DISCOMFORT**

Of course, they just have to say it's mild. The one thing better about this time is that there aren't worried people surrounding me with their phones. Then the fact that I was also freaking Christine out. Also, Jake saw the whole thing and it made it look like I was mental or something. I let out choked-back whimpers and breaths. I should've called Michael before this had me on the floor.

**CALIBRATION COMPLETE. ACCESS PROCEDURE INITIATED.**

I knew where the rest of this went and I let a few tears fall as I waited for the brain crashing pain. For a second I took in as many breaths as I could. Then I remembered to use this moment to call Michael.

"Call, Michael, Call Michael!" I shouted at my phone loud enough for my phone to hear. But not loud enough to wake up my family. My body laid on the floor with my legs in the air.

**DISCOMFORT LEVEL MAY INCREASE.**

I saw my phone start to ring before I gripped my head in pain.

"Woah, IEEE, gaHHHH," I rolled onto the ground and stopped my foot in different places. This pain felt too different now.

It feels like something is being ripped out from inside of me. It's in my stomach and my head. Kind of like a headache and stomachache but way worse. It's kind of like god is fucking with me more for some reason. Probably because I've done something that I can't remember. I curl into a ball and clutch my stomach. My hand goes to rub my forehead in hopes that does something. I whimper and let the tears fall as I let out choked sobs.

**ACCESSING NEURAL MEMORY.**

**ACCESSING MUSCLE MEMORY.**

**ACCESS PROCEDURE, COMPLETE.**

I felt the pain start to slowly fade away. Though I don't move a muscle in fear that it'll return. I can't believe that this happened. I thought the mountain dew red got rid of it all. It was because of the mountain dew that I drank at the party. Something doesn't feel right. The Squip's voice should've appeared now.

"Jeremy Heere," a voice said in front of me.

I started shaking and looked up at the person I've dreaded to meet again. There he is, in all of his glory.

_The Squip._

~~~

No words are coming out of my mouth right now. All that came out were muffled sobs. Michael didn't pick up. It would be a good time if he did. What's not helping at all is that he's just standing there. He's not moving, not speaking, he's not doing anything. I looked down at the floor. Tears were dripping down my face and splashed onto the floor.

That's when something caught my attention. He's wearing a white undershirt and an unbuttoned blazer. Then he has khakis with dress shoes. Another detail I saw is that his shoes are pressing into the carpet floor. I slowly started to get up and examine him more. The Squip didn't seem to mind. I sniffle and the sadness stops which is then replaced by curiosity.

I went to turn on the lamp instead of having to see the reflection of my PC on him. He didn't look glitchy at all, he looks like a normal person. You could also say that he looks human. When I looked at his face my breath hitched for a second. The Squip looks pretty good. He looks a little bit different from Keanu Reeves. His eyes are wider, his hair is curlier and he's got some stubble of facial hair.

All of a sudden he breathes an annoyed huff. My eyes go wide and I hesitantly touch his shoulder. I can feel him. Like, I can feel his skin. This is the weirdest thing I've ever experienced. Also, when could he feel emotions? He looks pretty annoyed too.

"Are you done yet?" he crosses his arms and lets out an annoyed huff. I'm more shocked than ever. I didn't think he would sound this enthusiastic with this feeling.

"H-How-, When-, I'm-," I kept on stuttering and waving my arms about.

"Are you human or something?" I put my hands out in a confused manner.

The Squip pinched the brink of his nose. How can he be so calm about this? I'm freaking out and he's calm as ever. This is a whole new level of _'I don't give a fuck.'_

"First off, I can still hear your thoughts, and it's been annoying as hell listening to them for the past few minutes," The Squip pointed his finger at me and waved it around. "Second off, I think I'm human at least, Jeremy."

"Oh my god," I felt like I was going to fall and pass out.

"Don't do that, Jeremy," The Squip informed me. I shrugged my shoulders and let out an "eh."

He guided me toward my bed. I laid down on my bed and got comfortable on my pillow. The Squip sat at the side of the bed. I took a deep breath and let it out. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this and what's happening. My Squip comes back, he looks different, he's human I think, and he's acting weird. What else freaky is going to happen? Christine and Michael hook up? There is a very low chance that happens I'm guessing.

"If it helps you, I still don't know why I'm like this," I turned to my side to face the Squip. He looks like he's in his world, pondering about his situation.

"It's because I am, Jeremy," he deadpans at me. I

_'I forgot you can read my thoughts.'_

This lets out a cocky smile from the Squip and I roll my eyes. A question pops into my head.

"Can you feel emotions?" I jump up out of my sleeping position. "Or like, do you feel human stuff, like sleep deprivation, hunger, thirst?" This intrigued me so much. If this is permanent, it is like having my computer-human hybrid thing. Then I could feel cool during my senior year of high school.

"I think I can feel emotions because it bothered me when you were all over me earlier," The Squip rested a leg on my blanket. "Also, my eyes keep on falling close and a weird feeling has taken over to lay down."

"I think you're tired," I said in a cheeky tone and smiled.

"Yes, I do believe so," the Squip didn't move at all though which went to me cocking my head to the side.

"Squip?" I asked, poking him in the arm.

"I think you should call me something other than Squip because I'm human now, I guess," he shrugged his shoulders.

A thought ran across my mind into calling him daddy in bed. My cheeks blushed at the escalation in which that would lead. Squip holding me down and pounding into my ass with all of his strength. Then I realized that he can read my thoughts, so I shifted to a different subject to think about. What to name Squip.

I saw a little red in Squip's cheeks, but he didn't comment on it. I thought for a moment about what I would name him. A few names like Andrew, Casey, Matthew, David, came to mind, but none of those stuck to me. The Squip seemed to be thinking as well.

"How about Eric?" the Squip sat crisscrossed on my bed.

The name felt like it fit well with Squip. Also, I somehow have a fondness for the name. I've never met someone named Eric before.

"I like it!" I shot a finger gun at him. Eric rolled his eyes. We let the awkward silence drift into our conversation.

"For once I don't know what to say to you, Jeremy," Eric said to me. "Now I'm getting, as you call it, " tired" from not doing anything." I giggled at his use of air quotes. _' You're getting a sense of humor!_ ' Eric just rolled his eyes and gave a fun smile.

"Goodnight, Eric," I tucked myself into the covers. My feet kicked Eric's thighs underneath the covers a bit. He didn't seem to mind. Then I reached to turn off the lamplight. With one click of the lamp, darkness swims into the room. I lay my head on my hands which rest on the fluffy pillow. Then I close my eyes as I feel the weight of the bed shift.

Then I feel someone move the blanket. I groan at not having a lot of warmth anymore. Then I realize that Eric is the only one in the room with me. No footsteps were heard coming in my room, so it has to be him. I jerk out of bed and sit on my pillow. My hand leans over to turn the lamplight on again.

A weight shifts in the bed again and I turn to Eric. He has a questioning look on his face and moves to sit on the pillow next to me. I've never realized that he is a few inches taller than me. Michael being an inch taller than me didn't bother me, but this kind of does.

"Is something wrong, Jeremy?" Eric pulled his legs out from under the covers and laid them on top. He still has his shoes on and I hate it so much.

My brain finally comes back to me and I speak up.

"Let me just say real quick that if you please take your shoes off, I'd be really happy and it'd stop bothering me, thank you," I spoke quickly. Eric raised an eyebrow and kicked his shoes off. One hit my closet and the other hit my desk. "Next thing is that it's really weird to climb into bed with me without saying anything." I gestured him to me.

He nodded and I thought I saw a look of something on his face. Though, I don't know what it is.

"Should I go sleep on the couch downstairs?" Eric asked. That's a terrible idea.

"N-No!" I whisper-shouted and let out a sigh. "Just, I don't know, you could sleep with me if you want, or you could sleep on the floor." I let out a half-hearted laugh and Eric sank into my sheets. I took that as he wanted to stay, so I went to turn off the light again. It's probably almost 5:00 AM.

The light shuts off, and I'm met with darkness and silence. He's turned the other way and I faintly see the outline of him breathing. When we both wake up with a recharged body, we can work on how to make Eric into an average human being.

' It'd be so weird if one of my family members walks in on me, haha,' I thought to Eric as I slipped into the covers. An amused chuckle left him as I turned the other way. Surprisingly, this isn't the gayest thing I've done in my life. I've shotgunned weed with Michael before and he said that it's chill. We don't talk about it much, but Michael doesn't seem to mind.

"What do you want to do when we wake up?" I poked Eric's body.

"Let me sleep, Jeremy, and why not go buy some clothes because I'm not always sleeping in khakis and dress shirts," Eric yawned. I chuckled and grinned. This is going to be fun.


	5. Getting used to this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun time at the mall. Michael's reaction to this situation with a tub full of lying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will come out soon.

Something uncomfortable made me squirm in my bed. Like, something continuously poking at me to wake me up. Kind of reminds me of when I got up to poke Michael awake on Christmas Day when my Dad was away on a business trip. I told him that it's fine because I don't celebrate Christmas, but he hyped me up about it, and I couldn't resist.

Coming into my senses a little bit, I shifted in my bed at the warmth. It's too hot all of a sudden. Way too hot for the summer warmth to be killing me. I try to turn my neck around, but there's something on top of my head.

When I open my eyes, I'm greeted by Evan standing on his knees in front of me. My eyes grow wide for a second at the surprise. He's looking nervous and worried. I tilt my head in confusion.

Evan stutters and tries to form words. "There's someone with you in bed," he points to the person behind me. I see him stick a finger in the collar of his shirt.

The realization hits me of what Evan is seeing. I try to move my arms, but I hit Eric's arms instead. What's even more embarrassing is that Evan has seen a person he's never met before, spooning me. God, I should've made him sleep on the floor. There would be an easier excuse to come up with. Eric doesn't even seem to be awake either.

A bright red blush flows across my face. I try to hide my face in my hands. Evan seems to be lost for words. I am too. 'Okay, Jeremy, come up with an excuse on how to tell Evan' I tell myself. Easier said than done. Many ideas crossed my head as to what to say. I could tell him the truth and that this is my Squip, or I could say that I got a hook up at a party last night. No, none of those are good to say out loud.

Eric twists his head a bit. I could feel his chin rubbing against my hair. He's getting better sleep than I am. When I look back at Evan, he's having a concerned face. It's like he's contemplating whether he should ask my parents or not do anything. I pull out a smile and wing it.

"This is Eric," I point my eyes up to where he's sleeping. His grip around me tightened. Evan smiled nervously and turned back to look at me.

"D-Did you guys do anything?" Evan fidgeted with his pants. It'd be impossible if my face grew any redder.

"N-No!" I shouted and waved my hands around. Eric groaned and rubbed his hands on my body in annoyance. He mumbled something along with the words "shut" and "sleep." I chuckled lightly and tried to get my train of thought back. Evan seemed even more disturbed and worried.

"Could you not tell mom or dad, please?" I asked in a pitiful tone. "I-I'm trying to figure some things out and I need to help Eric out here." Evan nodded and gave me a thumbs up. He got up from his knees and patted them down.

"It's about lunchtime, and I was going to tell you your food is ready," Evan rubbed the back of his head.

"Will you bring it up?" I whispered out a, please. Evan smiled and said yes. I let out a sigh and replied with a thank you.

My eyes stalked Evan as I watched him walk out of my room. Then I made sure he was fully downstairs before I laid my head back in bed. His footsteps faded out and I sighed. That was so embarrassing. My stepbrother saw me cuddling with a random guy. It's not like we're good with talking either. We both try to start conversations, but they end up a mess. Just like my life haha.

Time to stop fooling around. Now I need to wake Eric up for some of my lunch and water. He's going to need it. When I turn my body to him, I can see more of his features. His hair is a little curly, and it's surprisingly looking well taken care of. Then I noticed he has some stubble. I have to pull myself back from running my finger on it. Some of his chest hair was poking out from his now wrinkled dress shirt.

I shake my head and start to poke him. Evan did this to me, it worked, so might as well do it to Eric. His skin feels soft and smooth. Part of me is jealous because I can't take care of my skin for jackshit. Eric furrowed his eyebrows and let out a pissed off grunt.

Soon enough he slowly opened his eyes. It took me a second to realize that he is still spooning me. He didn't seem to realize that he's doing it. I'll let him figure it out on his own. Eric finally seemed to come back to reality. He yawned and sleepily smiled at me. I let out a nervous smile and tried to start a conversation. Nothing came to mind and it became awkward.

"Good morning, Jeremy," Eric moved his arms from around my waist. He then moved to sit up. He propped the pillow upon the headboard. 'Goddammit, he's still taller than me,' I complained to myself. I crossed my arms and let out a huff.

"Good morning," I grumbled. I heard Eric chuckle a bit.

"It's funny how you forget I can read your thoughts," he smirked and booped my nose. I blushed and swatted his hand away.

We both started to laugh. It weirded me out how real his laugh sounded. The Squip I knew didn't have emotions. When the Squip spoke, it was just commands and directions. Nothing else. I'm liking this upgrade. Sure, it'll take some getting used to, but I think I can cope with this.

"You know, my brother walked in on you spooning me," I rolled my eyes. Eric laughed and sat up straight.

"Well I remember you cuddling into me later in the night," he shot back. I blushed and started stammering. There is no way that I did that. He's lying!

"You have no proof of that happening!" I mock him.

"I do actually because it's hammered into my brain" Eric smirks back. He raises an eyebrow cockily and waves his hand around. I pull my knees to my chest and pout. The embarrassment kicks in, and I hide on my knees. No movements are heard from the side of me, and I don't think Eric gets what's happening.

My face heats up in embarrassment when I hear our stomachs growl. Eric lets out an annoyed huff and clutches his stomach. I pat my stomach and get out of bed. I'm going to need to put some clothes on if I'm taking Eric shopping. Oh, that reminds me, I need to text Michael and Christine that I'm okay. Also, I don't remember if Michael ever picked up my call.

"Jeremy, you need to give me food," Eric complained in a whiny tone. I heard some movement behind me as I grabbed my phone from the nightstand. I blankly unlock my phone and mumble some things to Eric.

"Yeah, Eric, Evan is bringing food up," I wave off to him.

When I open my phone, I realized that I had three missed calls from Michael, one from Christine, and fourteen messages. Some of them were from the squad saying that they hope I'm okay. I'll get back to them soon. Two messages were sent by Christine sending love and a picture of Chloe drawing a mustache on a passed-out Jake. It's pretty funny. Then the other 6 messages were from Michael.

They were all concerned sounding. The time frame of when it was sent showed that it was from around the time when the Squip came back. Michael said sorry for not answering the call. I text him back saying "good morning," and "Don't worry, I fell asleep on my phone." Hopefully, that'll convince him that nothing happened. I'm not ready to introduce Eric to anyone.

The sound of a zipper being pulled down caught my attention. My head whipped around to see Eric putting his legs through a pair of pants. He's going into a pair of pants. Th-That's what he was doing. Oh my god, I got so scared for a second. Wait a minute, how do my pair of pants fit him.

"Your dad gave you one of his pants after the play," Eric put the belt through the hoop.

"Oh yeah, I forgot I had that stored in my closet," I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. It took me a minute to not get an image of his dick in my face. Then I shook my head and took a deep breath.

"Do you know if I have any other clothes for you to wear?" I look up and ask timidly.

Eric shakes his head no and fidgets with the cuffs of his wrists. He pats down his dress shirt and unloosens his tie. His hand goes through his hair to ruffle it up a bit. I realize that he's all dressed and ready to go while I'm still in my clothes I was wearing last night. Michael hasn't read my text yet, so I presume he's sleeping. Maybe I'll go to his house later.

"I'm just going to go and change," I point to my dresser and scurry off. Eric nods and sits down on the bed again.

Quickly, I grab some random boxer briefs, jeans, and an old shirt with a picture of a wolf on it. A smile spreads across my face when I look at the shirt. It's been a while since I've worn this. I'd be so happy if it still fits.

Then I realize that there's no separate bathroom to change in. You know, I could tell Eric to leave the room for a second. There's the chance that my parents could see him and start yelling. Or I could tell him to turn the other way. That's a pretty good idea. For once I come up with something not stupid. It'd save me from a bunch of explaining to do.

I turn around to see Eric resting his chin on his palm and giving me a wink. My body isn't used to this type of embarrassment. All that happens is me getting extremely sweaty and red. Eric is laughing his ass off currently. He's not too loud though. I start stammering and playing with the ball of clothes I've created. He seems to get what I'm trying to say and turns around. I let out a sigh of relief.

I'm fast enough to put my clothes on in a few seconds. It still makes me self-conscious to know that my Squip is here. Like, he's not watching me, but his presence makes me a little uncomfortable. I was so used to him telling me what to do and critiquing me.

We're both ready to head out to the mall. I reach over to Eric to grab my phone. The screen turns on to show no new messages. It's also close to 1:00 PM. Then I shut off my phone and pocket it. Eric already has his shoes on. He yawns and rubs the space under his eye. This leads me to start yawning. I start giggling a little bit and he turns to me in confusion. I wave it off and lay my chin on my palm.

Thankfully, I hear the footsteps of Evan coming upstairs. He's light on his feet, so that's how I know it's him. The smell of a burger is drifting into my sense and I let my mouth hang out a little. Eric seems to be enjoying the smell too. My parents are bad at cooking, so sometimes they go out to get burgers.

Evan comes through the door with burgers and water. He stops for a second to see Eric sitting up straight. I see him jump in shock and let out a sigh. He doesn't say anything to Eric as he gives him a water bottle and a burger. Then he shuffles over and hands me my food. The face he gives me has a worried smile, and he darts his eyes to Eric. I assure him that I'm okay and that we are fine.

My body leans over a bit to see Evan awkwardly walking back downstairs. Once he's out of earshot, I start to dig into my burger. It tastes like heaven. Maybe it's because I haven't eaten in like twelve hours, but I don't care. The water soothes the aridness in my throat. I wipe my mouth with my sleeve and continue eating.

I could feel Eric's eyes on me. I'm digging into my burger when I turn to him. He hasn't taken a bite out of his food yet. I pick up on what he's confused about. I bite a little bit off my burger and show him to chew it. Eric timidly brings it up to his mouth and bites down on it. The tension in the room is high as I watch him chew slowly. This is one of the weirdest things I've been excited about.

Once he starts to chew on the food more, I can see his eyes sparkle a little. He swallows hard and places the burger on the plate. I shake his arm and look up at him with beady eyes.

"So, how is it?" my eyes widen with excitement.

"It's a new experience that I am going to have to get used to, but the taste isn't that bad," Eric refolds the sleeves of his blazer. Next, he grabs the burger again and continues to dig into it.

I'm almost done with my burger by the time he's halfway done. Eric didn't seem to need my help with drinking bottled water. It is pretty simple. This is a new and riveting experience. I still can't comprehend that my Squip is human now and that he's not yelling at me.

"I'm still going to try and improve your life, but at a slower pace," Eric mumbles through eating his food. I roll my eyes and down the rest of my water.

Both of us finish our food a little bit later. Now we need to somehow get out of the house without alerting my parents about Eric. While I'm thinking about solutions, Eric takes both of our plates and places them on my nightstand. He's cleaning himself up by rubbing his hands on the tissues that I have. _How are we going to do this?'_ I ask Eric.

 _'There is the probability that I could go out the window without any harm,'_ Eric had offered. The window isn't that far down from the ground. There are also some ledges to jump onto. ' _Yeah, that's the best idea we've got,'_ I shrug my shoulders. 

I walk to the window and open it. The humid air rushes in, and I run a hand through my hair. Nobody seems to be walking their dog or anything, so this shouldn't look suspicious. I gesture Eric to climb out the window. He's got both of his legs out now. Then he's jumping down onto the ledges. I wave to him and point to behind me. _' I'm going to go out the front door now,'_ I think to him. Eric gives a thumbs up and I hear a loud thud. 

"Jeremy?" I jump in surprise. A somewhat worried voice is heard from behind me. I've nearly jumped out of my skin. I turn around and see my stepmom in the doorway. She's looking confused. 

"O-Oh!" I rub my arms. _'My stepmom just scared the living hell out of me.'_ Without hearing it, I can tell he's chuckling. 

"Are you okay, hun?" she asks and I walk towards her. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just heading out to meet with some friends at the mall," I stop in front of her and bob my leg up and down. I'm going to need to get out soon. Eric is probably waiting in front of our house. 

"O-Oh, okay!" she looks like she wanted to ask me something. Before she can though, I zip right through her and run down the stairs. I don't hear Heidi saying anything, so I think she's okay. 

My dad is chilling on the couch with no pants on. What can I do? He does this on these types of boring days. Evan is working on the dishes in the kitchen. I'll do my share of them later. I quickly run to the front door and unlock it. I say a quick goodbye to my dad and head off.

Eric has his hands in his jean pockets and has a bored expression on his face. When the door closes behind me, he darts to look at me. We exchange smiles and start walking towards the mall. It's a little far from my house, but it's better than driving in my opinion. Being in cars makes me anxious most of the time. Unless Michael is driving. 

"Are you sure you don't want to get Michael to drive us?" Eric nudges my shoulder. I think about it for a moment. I could play Eric off as a family friend that needs to go pick up something. Hopefully, Michael will buy it. 

"Yeah, might as well," I respond. 

Michael's house isn't that far from where I live. A couple of blocks away from my house and we're there. His car is in the driveway and his moms' cars are parked there too. He hasn't responded to me yet. I tell Eric to stay in the walkway. Then I walk up to the front door and knock. 

There's some shuffling and whispers heard before the door is open. Michael is standing there with tired eyes. His glasses are crooked and he's hunched over himself. To be honest, he looks better than me when I wake up after a long night. 

"Hey, Michael!" I bring my hand out to do our handshake. 

"Hey, dude!" Michael comes back to reality once I pull out my hand. We do our bro thing and start a little conversation. Michael had lost his phone in the morning and only found it now. That's why he wasn't texting me. I let out a sigh of relief at that because I was a little worried. 

"So what are you doing here at my house?" Michael leans against the door frame. 

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to give my friend and me a ride to the mall?" I extend my palms out in a nervous habit. Michael lets out a long "uhhhh," and leans over my shoulder to see Eric looking around the neighborhood with his hands around himself. He raises an eyebrow at me and crosses his arms.

"Please?" I smiled worriedly. 

"Yeah, okay, just let me get my keys," Michael waves me off and closes the door. I thank him before he closes the door and I walk to the sidewalk to wait for him. Eric joins me while we wait for Michael. 

The garage door opens and Michael's standing there, flinging his keys around. The sound of the doors unlocking is heard. We all get in. Eric is sitting in the front seat while I'm sitting in the back. I let out a sigh of relief as I sink into the seats. It's nice to be in the back. I see Eric is having some trouble with getting the seatbelt on correctly. Michael is trying to hold back his laughter. 

He lets out a tiny snicker. Eric gets it in soon enough. _'Nice job,'_ I think to him. It's hard to sound sarcastic when you're thinking to someone. I hear him let out a snort. He must've gotten my remark then. 

"So, how did you two become friends?" Michael stares at me through the mirror in the middle of the car. Then he looks towards Eric. I sit up in my seat. 

"We're j-just family friends," I laugh awkwardly. Eric doesn't say anything and nods. 

"Then what are you guys doing together?" Michael raises an eyebrow. _'Oh god, what do I say?!'_ I ask desperately to Eric. _' Just tell him that your parents want us to spend time together, there's a good chance that'll convince him enough'_ Eric reassures me. I take a shaky breath.

"Mom and Dad want us to spend time together, hooray," I shrug my shoulders. Michael doesn't say anything the rest of the time we're on the road.

We make it to the mall, and Michael parks the car. I feel my phone vibrate and I see a new text message. It's a text from Evan. He's saying that mom is suspicious about my behavior. Also, that he's feeling weird from keeping this secret from the family. I text him back telling him to please hold a little while longer. My phone buzzes again, but I don't check it. 

Eric and Michael are already walking inside. I jump out of the car and close it. I heard Michael lock the car. Just to be sure, I try opening it. It's locked. I'll need to remind myself that I checked it later. 

"Hey, wait up!" I shout to them. Michael waits for me, but Eric goes inside. 

Michael holds the door for me. I smile at him and we both enter the building. It's a spacious mall. It is also incredibly active. A lot of people shop and eat here every day. I remember coming here to get the Squip. Then all that stuff happened. Eric is a little bit ahead of us. 

"I don't like your family friend that much," Michael confessed. I cock my head to him. 

"Why?" I ask him. Michael pushes his glasses back in place and stares at Eric. I've hunched my shoulders over while Michael is sitting up straight. Eric is too. He's walking like he owns the planet. 

"He smells like trouble to me," Michael digs his hands in his hoodie pocket. "I don't trust him." Part of me wants to tell him that it's the Squip and that he wants to change. That's not a good idea though. It would probably raise his suspicion higher. _'Could you hang back a little and talk?'_

Eric stops to turn around. He waits for us. Once we all catch up, we head into Khol's. There are some decent clothes in here. I hesitate to walk through the doors. They have those scanners to check if anyone is stealing. Nothing ever happens to me, but I like to make sure. Eric isn't having any of my nervousness and yanks me through the scanners. Michael lets out an annoyed huff and gives me a deadly stare. He mouths the words "Not trustworthy." 

We shop around for a bit. Of course, Eric didn't know his size, so we had to check that out. It took a while because he tried to find a tag on his clothes. There wasn't one for some odd reason. Then we had to guess what size he was and try on those clothes. We did end up finding the correct size. 

Somehow Eric had money too. Which is mind-boggling. He's a supercomputer that formed in front of my eyes and has money? Also, the amount of money he had was shocking too. There's over $1,000 in his pocket. 

He gets about $200 worth of clothes. A few of them were pajama pants. The rest were the essentials. Which included shirts, pants, boxers, socks, and two pairs of shoes. Eric bought an excessive amount of formal wear. More than I have. He said that he likes to be proper. I won't lie, he looks pretty hot with suits on. 

Michael gets a Bob Marley shirt. I didn't buy anything. I just tagged along with both of them. 

It's almost dinner time by the time we're finished around the mall. Eric has enough clothes. We got sushi for lunch. In which Eric tried for the first time. He didn't like it as much as burgers, but he thought it was good. Michael didn't say much to me during the time we hung out at the mall. Though, he did ask Eric questions occasionally. This would lead to a few seconds of us speaking through our minds to come up with an answer. 

Eric also got some essentials. Like a toothbrush and toothpaste. Then we bought a sleeping bag for him to sleep in. Then we got him a phone too. Eric has the supplies of a normal person by the end of it. 

I begged for cookies on the way back to the car. Eric gave me a twenty-dollar bill to spend. I gave him a quick hug and bought them. They were already in the car by the time I got back. All of us ate a few before we got on the road. The rest was for my dad and my mom. Evan isn't a real big fan of sweets. 

"So, Eric, where are you from?" Michael raises an eyebrow. I almost choke on the cookie I was chewing. _'Shit, what do we say?!'_ I panicked. _'Be chill, I got this_ ' Eric's thoughts were calming. 

"I'm a few hours away from this town," Eric sits up in his seat. 

"I see, I see," Michael licks his lips. Nobody says anything after that. The rest of the way home was quiet. 

Michael drops us off in front of our house. Eric gives a thank you and gets out of the car first. Before I could get out, Michael grabs my arm. I turn to him. 

"What's up?" I ask and sit back down. He sighs and readjusts his glasses.

"I just want you to be careful around him, okay?" Michael looks me in the eyes with worry. He's probably thinking about what happened at the party last night. I try to reassure him that I'm fine. It doesn't do much, but he calms down a bit. 

I get out of the car and he drives away. Eric is holding all the bags with clothes. He's waiting for me on the walkway of our house. Now it's time to sneak Eric back into the house. The lights aren't on in the house, so I assume it's safe. Also, it's like night hour. Mom and Dad are probably already in bed. 

Both of us walk up to the door and open it slowly. There isn't a squeaking noise, so that's good. The kitchen light is on, but no one's in the kitchen. I hear television noises upstairs. I let out a sigh of relief and push Eric inside. We try our best not to make a noise. It's hard to go up the stairs without making noise though. Our shopping bags make that plastic sound. 

We make it to the hallway. Evan's bedroom light isn't on, so he must be sleeping. I usher Eric to my bedroom. 

"Jeremy?" I hear a voice behind me. I freeze in place. Eric stops moving too. I turn around slowly to see my stepmom. She's in long sleeve pajamas and her hair is in a bun. Her face is a mixture of surprise and concern. 

"W-Who is this?" she points to Eric. I start stammering and fail at making sentences. _'You better be quiet before you make this worse,'_ Eric facepalms behind me. I don't hear him in time.

"A friend," I pat his shoulder. 

"Is he your boyfriend, Jeremy?" she crosses her arms. "If he is, then he looks way older than eighteen." A blush spreads across my face. _'Why didn't I shut up?'_ I wipe my hands on my pants. Eric scoffs at me. 

"N-No!" I try to convince her. "It's a friend!" 

My stepmom doesn't seem convinced. She looks like she's going to saw Eric in half. It doesn't help that I was seen sneaking him inside my room. Then we both have shopping bags. It probably looks like we just bought sex toys and were about to use them. Another thing is that Eric is in his thirties or something. He doesn't look that old, but not too young. 

"Then why were you sneaking him into your room at this hour?" she raises an eyebrow. I try to think of an answer quickly. Eric hasn't said anything, and I think that's the best thing he can do right now.

"I didn't want to wake you guys up?" it sounds more like a question than a statement. I hear her sigh. 

"Just... don't do anything stupid, we all want to sleep tonight," my stepmom stares daggers into both of us. My face grew even redder and Eric still had a poker face on. 

She walks back to her bedroom with dad. Eric drags me into the bedroom. Of course, my mom turns around to see that happening. She doesn't say anything. He drops the bags on the floor and sits down on my bed. 

"I didn't think you would pull that off," Eric looked at me with a shocked expression. I walk to close the door. 

"Well, I just went all improv on it," I chuckled and sat down next to him. He rolled his eyes. 

"I think you're improving with emotions and being a human at least!" I do jazz hands. I don't know why. That earns a laugh out of him. I smile and tell him that his laugh sounds unusual. He nudged me in the side. 

"We should set the sleeping bag up," Eric dug into the bags. What he said hurt me a little bit. It felt a little nice to have him to sleep next to. Also, I didn't have any nightmares. 

"Let's do that another time," I start kicking my legs. He raises an eyebrow at me and shrugs. 

We take turns changing into our sleeping clothes. I try hard not to take a peek at his dick. There was a prominent bulge in his underwear when I looked. Eric was turning his head to me and I quickly darted my head back. I put a white shirt on and brush my teeth. I'm sleeping in my biker shorts. They're comfy and it's nice for a summer night like this. 

We're in bed soon enough. I'm quick to fall asleep. Eric tells me goodnight, and I think I mumbled it back.

That night I dreamed about life with Eric. We have our adopted children running around the house. We're cuddling up in bed while our kids are sleeping. Then I'm sneaking hugs behind him in the morning. It was nice, but it felt so wrong. I want it badly, but I shouldn't. I'll have to rethink my feelings later. 


	6. Beginning of the year

Hanging out with the Squip has been a difficult time. It didn't help that I had to get a schedule for waking up at school. Tomorrow would be the first day of my senior year, and to say I'm nervous would be an exaggeration. I'm curled up in a ball, shaking. Eric isn't in the room right now. Ever since Heidi found out about Eric that one night, she's been poking her head in my room.

I've had to push Eric out of the window multiple times when he's alerted me of her footsteps. Sometimes he almost breaks a bone, but I don't have enough time to ask if he's okay. She doesn't have the _'mom'_ face when she checks up on me. Her expression is pure anxiety, and I can see the bags under her eyes. It's clear to me that she's worried about the person I'm hanging around.

Then Eric is in a whole other situation. Michael clings to my arm when he's hanging with us. There are grip marks from how hard he's latching on. He makes amends with me. I think he's doing it protectively. Like, he gets this weird feeling off of Eric, so he's trying to save me. I've tried to tell him that Eric is a trusting person.

Although, it is kind of hard not to tell Michael that Eric is the Squip. One thing that I can say for certain is that he has no clue that it is the Squip. We also play apocalypse of the damned together. Michael doesn't like the player three types of thing, but I tell him it's not bad. Eric is surprisingly skillful at the game. It probably has to do with the fact that he's still part computer.

A few days after our mall trip, we set up the sleeping bag. Turns out that we both appreciate sleeping together more. When I sleep with Eric, I don't get any nightmares, so that's one of the reasons why I like him sleeping with me. My dad kept the sleeping bag in the garage for camping. I told him it was a gift for being a great dad. He bought it and embraced me in a hug. His hug felt like it was crushing my ribs, but that's how those dad hugs are.

Keeping Eric away from my family has been a hard task too. Evan has been helping somewhat with excuses on why I've been hibernating in my room. My stepmom has only seen Eric once. I couldn't enjoy the rest of my summer break since I was keeping Eric from everyone. We've also gotten to become compatible to be around.

With all of that out of the way, I have to say that it has been an experience. The door is closed, and I'm hiding in the bathroom. It's kind of ironic if you think about it. I locked the bathroom door, so no one would get in. Eric has been adjusting well to human emotions and actions. He's been reading and watching youtube videos. I hear the faint sound of AC/DC through the headphones he's wearing.

My back is against the bathroom door, and I'm still curled up in a ball. Junior year was bad enough as it was. Now I have to deal with the senior year bullshit. Tears start to prick my eyes as I shove my head into my knees. I told Eric that I'm going to use the bathroom. He probably wouldn't care about me at this moment. I'm crying over the school. That's stupid.

Finally, the tears started to fall, and I felt the sobs racking my body. All the memories came flooding back about what I did to everyone last year. They all forgave each other, including me, but I don't know if they're lying or not. Michael is on edge about Eric because I abandoned him. The theatre got shut down for the rest of the year because of the incidents at the play. Christine was upset and pouting everywhere she went.

This all happened because of how idiotic I was. I was so in need of help and hope. It's true of what those people said to me last year, I should kill myself. I sniffled and tried to wipe the blobs of tears rolling down my cheeks, but they kept on flowing. My ears started ringing. Then my breathing started to become ragged. Is this a panic attack? It suddenly got troublesome to breathe, so I started growing erratic.

I banged my head against the door. I was panting like a dog in an attempt to get oxygen. The tears streaming down my face didn't help at all. It only worsened the problem. My mind became hazy, and I slumped against the door. I tried my best to calm myself.

Then I feel the door opening. I catch myself from falling over. Eric is standing there, his headphones were replaced with AirPods. His hand is clutching his phone. When he sees the state I'm in, he rushes to his knees. I start to choke on my air and hiccup. A comforting hand reaches down to rest on my shoulder. For some reason, his touch sent a wave of relaxation over my body. I stopped hiccuping and instead slumped against Eric's muscular chest. He's wearing a sleep shirt and pajama pants.

His arms wrap around my body. He shifted into a position where he's sitting crisscrossed. I'm being moved to a more unwind state. The side of my face rests on his heartbeat. He's leaning against the cabinets under the sink. Eric's hand moves to start petting my head. Then the feeling with the exaltation came back. If I could, I would fall asleep right on him. There was a slight familiarity with the shocks compared to the calming pets.

"What're you doing 'o make this feeling?" I slurred and fluttered my eyes close. I shifted my face so that it buried in his neck.

"It's a new type of shock for the people I get assigned to," Eric rested his chin on my forehead. I could barely feel the stubble he wore. The euphoric shocks continued for a little while. Each shock drifted me closer to falling asleep. If I did, there would be the chance that my stepmom or dad found me with Eric. Then he would get kicked out and I would never see him again.

I jumped a bit in place. Then Eric gave a quick peck on the hair and started shushing me. It calmed me down and I stopped with the _' what if'_ thoughts. He told me to stop worrying about everything and that he has it under control. He is my Squip after all. He's still taking care of me. At that moment, I fell asleep without any anxiety about school. Even though it's around lunchtime, I feel like I can sleep until the next day.

Eric shakes me awake though. I feel his arms wrapping around my body and lifting me. My eyebrows furrow at the weird feeling of being carried. The last time that happened was when my dad picked me up from the couch where I fell asleep when I was a little kid. It felt relieving to let my arms and legs dangle. There was the sound of sheets being ruffled and rummaged through. Then we both laid down on the bed. My eyes were still closed.

"Don't stress yourself, it's bad for your health," Eric ran his fingers through my hair. His hands ran through my messy curls and untangled the rough parts. Every stroke left me more relaxed after the other. _'You're using the shocking thing again, aren't you?'_

 _'Maybe I am, maybe I'm not,'_ a soft chuckle emitted from above me. It's nice to know the sarcastic humor goes well with his demeanor. With my inability to tell the difference between serious and sarcastic, we'll sure be able to get along together. My thoughts are cut off from a gasp heard to the left of me, and the halting of Eric's movements.

When I turn to the left, I see Evan standing in the doorway. A sigh of relief escapes my throat. _'Thank god it wasn't my parents'_ I sit upon my elbows. My knees are brought up a little bit to my chest. Eric is sitting on his knees. Evan is still staring at him and me. It's not like he hasn't seen Eric and me in questionable situations before. We've had to explain to him why we're jumping out the window. That wasn't a fun time.

"I forgot you live here secretly," Evan fiddled with his fingers and looked down at the floor. _'I got this,'_ I told Eric. ' _You better handle this well or I swear to god'_ There was an attempt for me to think a middle finger at him.

"Yeah, sorry for spooking you Evs," I rolled over onto my stomach and let my arm dangle off of the bed. The side of my cheek is shoved into the pillow. "I'll skip out on lunch for today, but I'll be there for dinner." I gave him a half hearty smile. He scratched the back of my head and gave me a thumbs up.

"Cool beans," he touched the door frame and walked away. My eyes followed his movements down the hallways and downstairs. When I couldn't hear his footsteps, I let out another sigh of relief. It's nice to know that Evan is on board with not getting caught. Which makes it way more compatible to do daily routines.

"How about instead of zoning out, you take a break?" Eric shot with a sassy tone. I huffed and slumped down into my bed. I wiggled my way into the covers while still crossing my arms. We let out a little laugh. He got me comfortable on the pillow. Then I turned to the side and closed my eyes. While gradually falling asleep, Eric tucked me in. It feels nice to have been tucked in.

 _'I'm going to get your stuff ready for tomorrow, then I'll think of a plan for you and me,'_ he pats my head and I felt his weight leave the bed. I'm too dozy to say anything, so I just let out a hum of acknowledgment.

That time I slept, I didn't have any nightmares. All that I remember dreaming about was the perfect day of school. Though, there was this feeling in the back of my head that day that I was forgetting something. What's weird is that my dream didn't have the Squip in it, nor did it have Eric. Anything to do with the Squip wasn't there.

The faint memory of asking my friends in the dream came up. They stated that they have no idea what I'm talking about. Then I thought, this is a dream! If I think of Eric, he'll appear here. I tried my best to think of him, but my dream started to blur together into black. I'm waking up now. That's the pain of lucid dreaming. You always wake up when you're thinking of something amazing.

I jolted awake and saw darkness. Aw man, I must've slept past dinner time. I facepalmed myself and groaned. My family is probably worried about why I didn't come down to eat. Then I reached for the lamp and my elbow drifted against a plate. I turned on the light to see two sticky notes on my plate.

One of them is from mom, and the other is from Eric. My stepmom says "I saw you were sleeping, so I brought you your food! <3" That's nice of her to do. She's always going out of her way to help the family. Sometimes she's overprotective and worrisome, but I've only seen her like that a few times. For once, the time with Eric and such.

Then the other one from Eric is a little longer than my stepmom's. It reads "I jumped out the window when I heard your stepmom come in, I'll be back up when you wake up." Now that's why I haven't heard any deep breathing next to me or ice-piercing eyes staring down at me. I should alert Eric that I'm awake now.

 _'Eric, I'm up, so you may come back inside,'_ I sat up in bed and snatched the plate of food. On the plate is a plop of spaghetti. I swirl the Italian dish on the fork as I hear the window open up. Then I go to check my phone as I slurp up the noodles. The time reads 9:12 PM. I'm guessing that my family ate around 8:30 PM from the coolness of the food. It's not out of the oven hot, but it's mildly warm.

"Sleep well?" my eyes dart up to see Eric standing casually with his hands in his pockets. His hair is littered with leaves and there's a little bit of dirt on his knees. I nod and smile through the teeth of marinara sauce. _'Oh, where are my manners!'_ I chuckle slightly.

I offer him a fork of spaghetti. He declines it with a shake of his head and a wave of the hand. My head tilts to the side as I grab the glass of water that Heidi also left me.

"I grabbed a bite to eat while you were sleeping," I almost spit out my food. A billion replies were running through my head, and I couldn't speak either because my mouth filled with food. Instead, I just spoke to him through the mind like we always do.

 _'Did you-, Are you-, I-,'_ I couldn't even talk to him through the mind. _'Jeremy, it's fine, I paid and I came back immediately,'_ Eric ran a hand across his somewhat curly hair. _' It still baffles my mind how you did it without me,'_ I shot back and laid my chin on my palm. He chuckled and walked swiftly to grab my empty dirty dish.

"I'll get in bed in a few, I have to tell you an idea," Eric placed the plate on the other side of the nightstand. I jumped up and down for a couple of seconds. The weight of the bed shifted signalizing that he sat down.

"I signed up for your school, so I can help you through the year," those words he said made my eyes grow wide. _'Did you just say what I think you just said?'_ He nodded and grinned. "I'll lie about my age and go to school with you, and I'm like 5 inches taller than you." Eric crossed his legs on the bed.

"There's nothing for me to do while you're learning," Eric did air quotes on the word learning. My face pouted, and I rolled my eyes. "Hey, I do learn some...things," I hesitated. We both chuckled and continued with the conversation.

"Also, what if your parents walk into your room to see me in it?" he raised an eyebrow to prove his point. "You do have a point," I tilted my head to the side in acknowledgment. Then another thought crossed my mind about the point he's getting across.

"W-Wait," I put my hands out in a halt motion. There's no way that he's 100% serious about this, right? This is some kind of joke. At that moment, a thought crossed my mind. "What about Michael?" I asked in leaned in closer and crossed my arms.

"Well, I'll convince him that I'm a senior too," Eric scoffed. "I've seen all the possible outcomes, and as long as you do as you are told, then this should go off without a hitch." The sureness in his voice worried me a little bit, but I have to trust him. Then he booped my nose and got off the bed to end the conversation.

 _'This school year isn't going to be normal, isn't it?'_ I leaned over my bed to see Eric walking into the bathroom with clothes. The door closes, and I hear the shower turning on. _'Nope,'_ he said with an "I know for sure" type of voice. I sighed in defeat on my bed and grabbed my phone from the nightstand.

There were a few new messages. Many of them were from Chloe and Brooke. They were wishing me a good school year and saying how excited they were to see me. Michael sent me a text saying if we wanted to go off campus for lunch. _'Would you be fine eating lunch by yourself?'_ I asked Eric. _'I don't mind,_ ' he said.

Now Michael will eat lunch with me. Just like old times. Mom had told me goodnight, and that she'll drive Evan and me to school tomorrow. Come on! How will Eric get to school without my parents knowing? Then what about breakfast? I plotted ideas in my head the entire time Eric was using the shower.

The shower turned off, and I hear him get out of the tub. "You know we could just walk and grab breakfast on the way," he semi-shouted through the bathroom door. Oh yeah, Eric can read my thoughts. Why must I keep on forgetting that? "I'm sure you can convince your mom that you want to walk." His voice sounded a little irritated. My stomach felt queasy for lying to my stepmom again.

Eric opened the door and walked out with a mess of hair. He wore pajama pants and a tank-top. I put my phone back on my nightstand to charge. I texted my mom real quick to let her know that I'll walk to school. She'll respond in the morning. We moved on the bed, so we could get under the covers. None of us said a word. It felt a little unsettling that he was pushing me to lie to my mom, but that's just the Squip.

I reached over to turn off the lamplight. It all went dark in a second. I let my arm hang in the air for a few moments, then I brought it back down to my chest. Eric was already under the covers, snoring like my dad. I'll probably be like that one day. Sleeping next to someone, and they get mad for being so loud.

A few more thoughts about Eric crossed my mind. It feels so uncomfortable and bubbly to think about him. In the sense that I'm used to him being a little bit nicer. Also, a tiny thought in the back of my mind doesn't like the voice he uses because I have a crush on him. It hurts when your crush calls you mean things and gets bothered by you.

I shake the thought away and close my eyes. Tomorrow is another day. A day that's a school day, and the beginning of your senior year. Which is the last year of high school, so you'll have to make it count. I nod to myself and doze off. With the little bit of consciousness I had, I felt Eric roll over and wrap his arm around my waist. Though, it might've been my dream-like state playing tricks on me.

~~~

 _'BEEP!' BEEP!' 'BEEP!' 'BEEP!'_ My mind felt groggy as I drifted back into consciousness. Sleeping in felt like the best option right now, but I sent an alarm for 6:50. That would give me enough time to get ready, grab breakfast on the way to school, and get to class just in time. Before I could slap my phone off the nightstand, the alarm stopped. I groaned and shoved my face into my pillows. I'm falling asleep again. 

"No, don't fall back asleep!" a voice shouted at me. I grunted and propped myself on my shoulders. When I looked up, Eric was already in school attire and ready to go. He wore a regular light blue t-shirt with a jean jacket over it. He wore normal, pale brown khaki pants. I blew a string of hair away from my face. 

"It's time to get up, and you're lucky I'm more compassionate now because I would've kicked you out of bed," just as I was about to get up from bed, Eric threw a pile of clothes at my face. They were just like my clothes from last year, only in a newer fashion. I yawned and ran a hand through my hair as I walked to the restroom. It's a little too early for Eric's bossy behavior, but it's a school day, so I get it. 

"Good morning to you too," I replied stolidly through the door. I put on my blue jeans and a striped t-shirt. Then I slipped on the yellow cardigan we bought. "Hurry up!" Eric shouted through gritted teeth. _'Alright, alright,'_ I thought to him. You know, I should start sleeping better on the weekends. The next to do was to brush my teeth, so I quickly did that. 

When I stepped out, I was immediately yanked out of the door. I had to hastily unplug my phone and grab it. Then I hauled my backpack using my foot. Eric already has a backpack and a phone on him. While this was happening, I shoved my feet into my shoes.

"What's the rush?" I whined. His arm was hurting me from digging into it so much. "We just need to leave before your parents come down," Eric looked both ways before leaving the kitchen. I checked my phone real quick to see my mom replying with a simple 'okay.' The way she typed it made it feel like she was suspicious, but you can never tell what someone is saying through text.

A few more yawns let my mouth. I'm still partially asleep and felt like sleeping in Eric's arms while we walked to breakfast. Speaking of breakfast, I feel like having nuts and yogurt. Maybe put a breakfast sandwich in there. My real mom used to pack them for me, but I never at it at school. My lunch would be my breakfast. Then she'd pack my breakfast for lunch. 

Eric clutched my arm tightly the entire time. My shoes scraped against the sidewalk uncomfortably. We didn't speak to each other like we usually did. The only thing heard was my whines and groans from my partially asleep body. Everything started happening so fast. It's probably past 7:10 AM now, but we're close to the grocery store. 

Around me, I saw high schoolers walking to school already. They either had AirPods or earbuds in their ears. Also, they were hunched over, staring at their phones. The school is a few blocks away. 

Soon enough we're inside the grocery store. He lets go of me and crosses his arms. I rub my wrist and look at him angrily. Eric fumbles with his facial hair and chuckles. His laugh made me feel a little bit better, but I'm still mad at him. He had to drag me all the way here when we could've just walked. 

"Let's go get breakfast," Eric pointed to the dairy aisle. I nodded and we started walking. 

I ran towards the yogurt and nuts packets. I grabbed two of them. Eric reached for a protein shake and walked to get cereal on the other side. I know him too well for him to not get cereal. Raisin Brand is his favorite type. He's ashamed of it and doesn't like anyone to know. Even though I like to eat my hot dogs without anything. 

We bought our items and left the store. I grinned with yogurt in my mouth. I started munching on the nuts. Yogurt used to make me gag, but I grew into loving it. Eric was downing his protein shake as we continued walking. My feet were starting to hurt, but we were only one crosswalk away. 

There were kids all over the place. Cars were going every which way to drop off their kids. Then every minute, the crosswalks would be filled with kids going to school. Children were talking and walking into school. Eric and I stood in front of the school. My hand clutching my two empty packets of yogurt and nuts. Then Eric trying to perfectly throw his empty protein shake in the recycle bin. He shoved the cereal in his backpack. 

He didn't seem impressed by the school. He is like thirty-something, so I don't expect him to like it. _' I'm 38, Jeremy,'_ I could see him rolling his eyes out of the corner of my eye. My phone buzzed and I saw Evan sending me a good day at school. Evan goes to his own school a little farther from mine. I sent him a text back telling him "you too." 

"You ready to head into hell?" I giggled. Eric threw the bottle into the trashcan and nodded. Someone shouted a "nice!" at the throw. We both laughed at that. With that said, we headed into the school doors. 

Inside was just as bad as outside. Kids were running around, hugging their friends, and striking up a conversation. The clock upon the wall says it's a quarter till eight, so we got time to talk. Some kids were already heading to their lockers to grab their books to head to class. Both of us were standing off to the side of the hallway. Nobody noticed us standing there. This is surprising because Eric is like six feet. 

_'Just to remind you, I'm 5'11,'_ Eric's voice echoed in my head. _'Why must you be so on top of everything?'_ I pursed my lips together and looked up at him. _' That's just what tops do, unlike some people,'_ he looked down at me and smirked. My eyes grew wide, and I was taken back.

"Are you implying something?" I raised an annoyed eyebrow. Instead of answering my question, Eric started walking away. "Hey, don't walk away from me!" I started running through people to get to him. One person, I collided with and fell to the ground. I picked up some books for her and yelled out a hasty "sorry." 

I didn't look back to see if she heard me or cared at all. Once I caught up to him, we were already at my locker for the year. "So much for being chill this year," I sighed. Eric chuckled and leaned against the locker next to me.

It took me a while to get my combination right, but I think it was worth it. The laughs I heard next to me made it worth it. It felt nice to make Eric laugh. I don't know why. Other kids were opening their lockers all around me, so my hearing was limited. Then I put my books in and grabbed my folders for homeroom. 

When I closed my locker, Eric was looking at me with his cheek against the cool metal. I raised my lip a little bit and looked around. He was staring at me and it was peculiar. "Hey, you should go put your things away for homeroom," I pointed back to where he told me his locker is. That seemed to snap him out of this gaze because he straightened his posture and smiled. Then he walked towards his locker. 

_'See you in homeroom!'_ I thought to him. _'Yeah, see ya.'_ We both went our separate ways for a little bit. There are still seven more minutes until school starts. People are chatting like there is an infinite amount of time. While looking around, I saw a familiar mess of brown curls. His headphones were wrapped around his shoulders, and his face is shoved into a locker. 

Now, that is definitely Michael. I ran up towards him and gave him a big hug. He halted for a second and shrieked. Some people saw us and snickered, and a few girls whispered to each other while looking at us.

"Hey, dude!" Michael turned around to smile at me. His grip on his backpack tightened and he wrapped his arm around my neck to pull me into a huddle. "How's it been going?" I heard him kick his locker shut and we started walking to class. Thank god we shared the same homeroom. I don't know what I'd do without Michael being in the same classes as me. Of course, he isn't in all of them, but a decent amount.

"I've been okay," I tried to find the right words to say. What is a suitable reply to having the person that almost ruined your life come back to help you, but in an unusual way? Also, the same person who you've come to having a low-key crush on. They also will probably never like you back because they show no emotions. The only emotions they show are in the form of sarcasm and sincerity. 

"Well, I can tell something is up, but if you don't feel like telling me, that's fine," he raised his arms in defense. Heh, Michael is a marvelous friend. He's the ropes that tie our friend group together. Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do without Michael. "That reminds me," he started saying. His sentence piqued my interest, and I stopped in my tracks.

"What had happened to your family friend, Eric?" Michael shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket. I fidgeted with my hands and thought of something to say. _' You told me not to say anything, right?'_

 _'That is correct,'_ Eric told me. "Fuck," I murmured under my breath. At that moment, I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just slipped under his arms and booked it to class. I headed inside and picked a seat next to the window. My leg bounced up and down as I anxiously waited for Michael. 

Right when I thought Michael showed up, Eric entered through the door with a stolid look on his face. My eyes grew wide as I realized they were in the same class as me. Oh no, how did this happen? 

The bell rang a few minutes later, and Michael came in right when it rang. He had an emotionless face as well. Both of them were seated as far away from each other. Eric had his leg over his other and Michael was hunched over with his chin on his palm. Everyone else was trying to listen to what the homeroom teacher was saying because it's the first day. 

It felt like a year before class ended. I couldn't focus because my anxiety flooded my stomach. My interest peaked higher in the situation, so I asked Eric a question. _'Did you talk to Michael on your way to class?'_ I sat up and grabbed my backpack. _'Doesn't matter,'_ he sounded a little pissed off.

~~~

A few more classes went by and Eric's mood didn't change. I texted Michael between classes and he told me he was fine. The way he replied with the message didn't quench the butterflies in my stomach. 

The classes themselves weren't that bad. Since Eric is still a Squip, he can help me with math. Then I'm decent at everything else. It's okay that I have three projects to complete already. This is fine. It's just something that every senior has to deal with. 

Soon enough my science class bell rang. Finally, it was time to have lunch with Michael and talk to him more. Eric walked towards the outside patio to have lunch. Not a lot of people eat lunch out there. Though, some people go out there for quiet. 

I found Michael waiting for me outside of school. Some other kids were waiting to go get lunch as well. The school says we have a limited amount of places to walk to. If you have a car, you can go anywhere. Thank god Michael has his PT cruiser still. We agreed on having this cafe near our neighborhood. They have the best pastries. 

We climbed in the car and headed out. I leaned my head against the window to see seniors like me fooling around and laughing. That reminds me, I haven't seen the girls nor Rich or Jake today. It's the first day, and I probably missed them on my way to class. 

"Hey, Michael?" I turned around to face him. He didn't keep his eyes off the road and hummed in recognition. 

"You seem a little off today, are you okay?" I brought my knees to my chest over the seatbelt. The position is a little stiff, but it's manageable. 

"I'm fine Jeremy, just got caught a little off guard today on my way to class," he sighed. I wanted to pester him more with questions, but we pulled into the parking lot and got out. He got out instantly and started to walk inside. 

The place had food already for you. All you had to do was use the tweezers to pick them out and pay for them. Michael volunteered to pay for my lunch. He always does this to be nice. Even though I should be paying because I don't do much in this friendship. Then he brings up the fact that I can't talk to people without having a breakdown. In which I'd gladly let him pay. 

I grabbed a sandwich with some sugar-coated donuts. Michael got two croissants with an order of chicken noodle soup. The cashier grabbed under the register to give him a cup of soup. We paid for our lunch and took a seat outside. It was a nice day. 

I dug into my sandwich and licked my lips. When I looked over at Michael, he ate slowly and seemed to be off in his own world. Now, something is very off. Both of us are sloppy eaters. All we do is make a mess of our food and dig into everything. I've never seen Michael act like this before. I'll have to bug Eric about what happened. He obviously had something to do with it. 

For now, I'll slowly eat my food, so I don't look like a maniac. 

"How's your day been so far?" I asked to make small talk. He seemed to snap out of his thoughts. 

"I've been a little better than usual," he paused before saying "little better." It's annoying how he won't tell me anything. Maybe this also had something to do with how I ran away from him before answering his question about Eric. 

"That's good," I sighed and sadly ate my donut. This will be an exhausting year.


	7. Fun Times?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heidi starts to catch on between Jeremy and Eric. It doesn't help that Michael and Eric are hiding something. Jeremy's going to try and deal with it himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since school is starting, expect slower updates!

Saying that my school day went by as a breeze would be the opposite. Sure, I had an amazing lunch with Michael. Even though it was mostly kept in silence. I'll find out what's wrong with Eric and Michael if it kills me. They were on my mind the entirety of the first day. Later I'll have to ask Eric for school notes and dates. He'll have me do them the moment I bring up the fact that I didn't pay attention. Okay, maybe I'll do them later.

After school, I saw Christine hanging out with Brooke. I waved to them and they ran up to me. We talked for a little bit before Brooke gave Christine a ride home. Chloe, Jake, Jenna, and Rich were still nowhere to be found. When I texted Christine about it, she said that they were probably hanging out at the restaurants. It's their first day of school ritual as popular kids. Brooke didn't go because Christine and she had a girl's day.

Michael brought up a happy attitude at the end of the day. He was like his normal self. Then I saw Eric approaching us, and he left for his PT cruiser. His appearance made me uncomfortable because I wanted to talk with my best friend. At least he wasn't pulling the optic nerve blocking thing on me.

My spirits brightened up when I got a text from Michael asking if he wanted to hang out at his house at the end of the week. With a goofy grin, I told him that I'd be there. Eric had put his hand on my shoulder to lean over my shoulder. A nervous laugh escaped my throat and I smiled at him, meekly.

So how was my first day of school? Not good at all, it was pretty terrible. Hopefully, tomorrow is a new day and it'll be worse. Eric had made me chart down notes once he figured out I didn't do my homework. I whined and then he started to tickle the hell out of me. When I tried to tickle him, it didn't work. It must come with him still being a part computer.

"Okay! Okay! I'll do my school shit!" I shouted through gasping laughs. I opened my blurry eyes to see Eric hovering over me with a stupid grin. I wiped the tears from my eyes and got up. Eric moved with me so we stood on our knees together.

Our eyes locked with each other and I felt a blush rise to my face. It would be so easy for Eric to lean into me. Sadly, that thought and moment were short-lived. Eric booped my nose and got up. He held his arm out for me to take. I closed my eyes and grunted as I pulled myself up from his arm.

The thoughts of Eric ever liking me back are probably never coming true. I'm still seventeen and my birthday isn't until after Winter break. I'd have to wait until I'm eighteen to even go public with my relationship if I ever get one with Eric. I let out a sigh and sit down at my desk.

Time goes by faster than I thought. I'm already done with my notes and homework. Helped by Eric. It's almost dinnertime by the time we're done with my school business. Evan texts me to alert me when breakfast, lunch, and dinner is. It's been a while since I've texted back or started a conversation with him. I've snuck food up to Eric half the time. It'd get suspicious if I never attend family time.

There's a 50% chance that my stepmom knows that Eric is still hanging around the house. She's been chill about it though. If she knows, she hasn't said anything to me. Though, I'm sure she just doesn't want to alarm me or anything.

Right now I'm scrolling through my phone on my bed. My head is rested against Eric's chest. We were watching tv on my iPad, but he fell asleep. I didn't realize that he fell asleep, so I quietly took the invite to rest my head on his chest. He doesn't have to know that I'm doing this. It'll just be a moment for me to keep to myself.

I listen to the snores that erupt from him. They got annoying once his snores clouded everything, but going through my social media and memes has gotten my mind off of it. This reminds me of the time when Michael made a Reddit account just to flood a tag with pictures of anime girls. He deleted his account soon afterward, but the people on that one tag were pissed. I don't recall what the tag was, but it'll come to me soon.

A loud snore startles me, and I drop my phone on my stomach. My arm hairs stand on end as the shiver goes back down. I let out a loud snort and start giggling. Oh, Eric would never hear the end of it if I tell him how loud of a snorer he is. It's kind of cute in its little way, but that's just my opinion.

I've now begun to stare intently at his sleepy form. The way his chest slowly rises and falls is so peaceful and gives me the bubbly feeling again. I hate it when I get the fluttery motion that happens in my stomach around Eric. It doesn't help that I'm around him all the fucking time.

I let out a disappointed sigh and take in his sleeping form. If he woke up and saw me staring at him, I'd probably freak the fuck out. These moods that I'm getting when Eric is there with me are bothering me. It's never going to happen, but I can't stop thinking about scenes with him and me when he's sleeping.

He's laying on his back, and I'm on top of him. He slowly lowers me onto his massive length. The sex goes on for hours on end. My family isn't home and we do all these things together. Then the next day I can barely walk, and Eric has to help me around the house. We'd cuddle up on the couch watching some lame movie. I'd fall asleep to his cute snores and the sound of the movie playing in the background.

Another sigh leaves me as I take my chin away from his chest. I didn't even realize I had it there. Eric's such a heavy sleeper I realized. But, I've seen him hop out of bed when my alarm sounds.

It's remarkable how he's become accustomed to all of these human behaviors and emotions. I mean, he's only been in a human body for what I think is a month? And he's already up and at it.

Sometimes it sucks that I have to keep this from everyone. Every time I think about telling my friends and family, I just get anxious and scared. Would they be mad that I kept this from them? Will they ever trust me again? Also, what would their reaction be that the very entity that tried to destroy the school came back? These thoughts make me thankful that I'm never telling anyone about this.

My phone buzzes, and I look at the bright screen. There's a text from my stepmom under the time. She says that everyone is going out for dinner and that I should be ready to leave in five minutes. Family outings aren't something that we do often. That's because Evan and I aren't the ones to go out and sit down for food. Our parents know this, so they never bothered.

This time I especially don't want to go.

There's also the idea of leaving Eric alone in my house. If I know him for the month we've been glued together, it's that he's nosy and observant. The moment we leave, he's going to wake up and start snooping around.

Also, I can't even stay if I wanted to. We're all going out in five minutes. Which is now like three minutes. Oh god, I'm not even dressed. I'm still in my P.E. clothes. I don't know why I didn't change because I like to be in something comfortable.

Eric's still sleeping soundly. His snores are the only thing keeping me from blanking out. I let out a snort at the fact that his snores are that loud. I have an odd sense of humor. Michael tells the lamest jokes, and I think that's why I'm so bad with it.

By the time I get downstairs, someone is honking the horn and yelling at me to hurry up. I've left a note for Eric when he wakes up. I'd like to think he'd message me via thinking too. It's like our superpower.

I hastily run down the hallway to the garage and open the door. My stepmom is honking the horn every few seconds, and my dad is trying to hide his laughter. They're trying to catch the attention of the entire neighborhood. I'm pretty sure Michael could hear us.

When I open the backseat door, I see Evan sinking into his chair like the titanic. He looks so uncomfortable and red in the face. You could almost feel bad for him. My poor stepbrother. I hop onto my seat and buckle up.

Everyone makes sure that they're buckled up and ready to head out to dinner. It's a peaceful and pleasant car ride. No one seems shy to speak up and talk. Evan and I inform them about our first day of school. Of course, I leave out the main problem with Michael and Eric.

Evan tells me that he met this kid named Connor. He sounds like a total douche. First off, the story he told was that Connor yelled at Jared and Evan watched from the sidelines. Then Evan whispers to me that he yelled at them too. Second off, there's a big part of his cast that spells on "Connor."

Something is going on between those two, and I'm curious to figure out what it is. Right now it's not my priority. I'll bump it down to my fourth. My priority is to find out the situation between Michael and Eric.

As if on time, I hear Eric talking to me through thinking. _'When are you coming home?'_ he asks me. _'I'll probably be home in an hour and a half,'_ I respond.

There's not another word after that. Maybe he just fell asleep. I hear a quiet answer a few seconds later though. This is pretty shocking because we don't use much emotion over our telepathic responses. _'I miss you when you're not around, and I don't know why,'_ Eric says.

His response has me baffled for a couple of seconds. Never have I heard someone say they miss me. Other than Michael because we're best friends. My stomach twists and turns in knots and fills up with butterflies.

I quickly reply to him afterward. 'I guess I miss you too a little bit.' Except I don't think a little bit. That seems like I'm creeped out by the message, but not saying it makes me sound needy. Either way, Eric tells me that he'll talk to me later. Is this a mission accomplished?

A few minutes later we reach the restaurant. It's a Red Robin's. I haven't been to one of these since I was a kid.

When we enter the restaurant, I see a handful of little kids jumping in booths. Their parents are looking at menus, trying to decide what to eat. This makes sense because it's the first day of school. Families are celebrating a new year of school. I guess it's our special year because it's our last.

We take a seat at a booth on the wall. I get in the booth first, and Evan sits down next to me. My stepmom and dad pile in front of us. I grab a menu to look at, even though I already know what I want.

Pretending to be looking at the menu for something to eat is way easier than talking about a topic to my family. There's this thing hanging in the air that my parents want to say, but they're not talking about it. Evan doesn't seem to pick up on it, but he is fidgeting a lot with his hands. He might've left his fidget cube at home.

While skimming through the list of food, my stepmom asked a shocking question out of the blue. It made Evan choke on his water. That didn't help ease the expression on her face.

She had asked, "How's your 'friend'?"

The question caught me off guard. I know she knows something about Eric. Like, the fact that I'm hiding him from my family and all of society. Instead of responding calmly to the situation, I sat there with my mouth wide open, looking like a fool.

She raised an eyebrow and my dad reached to grab a chip & dip. My dad had the same expression she had on her face. I think they were both talking about this prior.

"H-He's fine," I stuttered out and tried to cover it up with a nervous chuckle.

"We're just concerned that you're not spending time around us much anymore." my dad pointed to me and then to everyone else. Then my stepmom cut in with a worried/cocky face. That look means no good, and I'm worried about what's to happen.

"I've noticed that you don't go to Michael's every day anymore," she rested her hand on her palm. I gulped water and watch Evan dig his nails into his pants. "Also, you make your bed now which is unusual."

Why did Eric convince me to make my bed every day now? Although, I could never say no to him. Okay, not now is the time to think about this. I knew this wasn't just a family dinner. They wanted to get answers out of me, and it doesn't help Evan is having a panic attack.

You could tell that he's trying hard not to break down right then and there. I lay a hand on his knee and squeeze it for reassurance.

"I just wanted to be a little for sophisticated for my last year of school", I rubbed my head. My dad seemed convinced, but my stepmom didn't.

It's not that I hate her, Heidi is a nice and caring mom. She worked too much and deserved the break she got. I think she's worried about me. That's all, right?

"Jeremy, please, I've seen Eric jump out the window in your room," she repositioned her hands to fold together in a fist. Her elbows dug into the table. My dad sighed and let his hands fall back. He's letting my stepmom take his one.

"All I want to know if he's making you do things you don't want to do," her eyes glowed with concern and compassion. Evan stuffed his head into his arms and let out a loud sigh. She ruffled his hair and turned back to me.

Then it came to me what she must be thinking. It's so awkward and upsetting when your parents assume you're dating someone. Also, if Eric ever wanted to do _stuff_ to me, I would comply immediately. That might not be the best thing to think about, but it's better than any of my other things to think about.

"N-No!" I put my hands up in defense. Heidi raised an eyebrow and sat up straight in the booth.

"I-I j-j-just-, we w-were-, nothing," I couldn't come up with the right thing to say. What do I tell them? I wish Eric was here to tell me what to do. Although, my parents would question why he's here. He's probably fallen back to sleep though. I wouldn't want to I took a long sigh.

" I just wanted to hang out with him, and we're just friends," I emphasize the 'friends.' My stepmom sighed and let the topic go. Evan ran to the restroom a while ago. Maybe just to splash some cold water on his face.

Soon enough the waiter came to take our orders. I let out a sigh of relief. That'll get me out of the conversation for a while. Even though they let the topic go, I know they are going to ask me about it later today. Hopefully, they forget about it, and we go home in silence.

Evan came back, thankfully, and ordered his food. I just got a simple burger and fry with a lemonade. Eric said that I look cute chubby. I've lost some weight after he said that. It's not that I took it as an insult, I hurt my teeth, and I couldn't eat much. Advil was taken in advance, so I got better quickly.

Now I think I'm okay in weight. Heidi thinks that I'm underweight for my age. Nobody picks on me for my weight, so I didn't care for it that much.

The rest of the restaurant time is spent talking about the first day of school for Evan and me. Our parents surely want to know every little thing. Of course, I still left out everything with Eric and Michael. If my parents found out the dude I've been letting live here goes to my school, they'd flip out. It doesn't help that they think I'm dating my Squip.

I munch on my burger and think of everything that's happened so far these past few weeks. This has been a stressful time, and I'm surprised I've only experienced one panic attack. I'm guessing that'll change soon once school continues.

"So, you two are just friends?" Heidi picks at her salad. I nod my head eagerly and pull up a reassuring smile. I tried the best that I could to convince her. She sighed and chewed into her salad.

My dad and Heidi split the bill between the cash that they had brought with them. They ended up fighting about who was going to pay, but they agreed. Evan and I got out of our booths and started walking. While they gave a quick kiss, Evan and I exited the Red Robin. I feel horrible that he's so distraught. He's had a rough day at school, I can tell. Then everything with Eric.

"Hey," I catch up to him while we were walking to the car. He halts in his tracks and gives a weak smile at me. 

"I'm uhhhh," I try to find the right words to say. We're right outside the car doors, and we don't have the keys, so we can't unlock the doors. My hand is outstretched to lay my hand on his shoulder, but it ends up hovering. I bite the inside of my lip and look around. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess." 

Evan looks taken aback at what I said. Please don't tell me I've said the wrong words. Although, he doesn't have any anger or disappointment in his eyes. He seems relieved, and I noticed he straightened his posture for once. 

"It's fine now, I guess," he lets out an awkward chuckle. "Mom knows how I think, and I'm just needing a little break from your shenanigans." He zips up the gray jacket that he had around his waist. The fact that my stepmom knows, kind of, about him staying in the house is foreboding and worrisome. Like, what is she going to do when she puts all of the puzzle pieces together? 

"You're my stepbrother, I know something is bothering you," I nudged him with my elbow and he grinned. A real, genuine smile came from his face. That's the first time in like a million years that I've seen that. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." I shrugged my shoulders. 

He was about to say something when the car's beep alerted us that the doors were unlocked. Our parents were waving at us from the front of the Red Robin. Both of us hurried in the car to sit down again. The feeling of finally resting my legs felt like euphoria. 

"I'll keep that in mind," Evan buckled himself in while talking to me. We high-five each other, clumsily. I was going to do a fist bump, and he didn't realize what we were doing. Then I had to grab his hand and high-five his. It was cliche if you think about it. 

"We'll work on your high fives," I scratched behind my head. 

On our way home, Evan and my mom fell asleep in the car. Even though it's like a ten-minute drive. They've always been the sluggish ones since they moved in with us. I've always thought that I'm the most inactive and dozy, but Heidi proved that wrong. 

When we got home, I sped inside to make sure Eric didn't do anything wrong. Thank god my dad had to stay back to awaken mom and Evan. I unlocked the garage door to see the kitchen light on with Eric sitting on one of the stools. He had a bottle of wine in his hand and his head in his arms. 

This is a disaster. Also, how did Eric get a bottle of wine? Another thought to add is why did he get a bottle of wine? I'll need to talk with him. Once I figure out how to get him to my room, and on the bed to pass out. At least he didn't make a mess of the house. 

"Eric?" I whispered and shook him a little. He let out a groan and flopped his head to the side. His eyes were lidded and a little bloodshot. That's either from crying or alcohol. I'm going to stay optimistic and call it the alcohol's fault. "My family is home, so we need to head upstairs." Eric let out a mumble in acknowledgment. 

After a few seconds, he got up and slumped up the stairs. I followed close behind in case he tripped and fell. The bottle of wine was still in his hands as we walked to my room. There isn't much to clean up downstairs, so I'll tell them that I had to find some new paper towels or something. 

Shortly enough, we made it to my room, and I closed the door quietly. It's been a long night, so I wouldn't assume my parents would barge into my room. They'd think I'm sleeping. No need to come in and scare the living hell out of me. Behind the door, I could hear the garage closing and a door slamming shut. They're probably going to pass out the moment they get on a bed. 

Eric placed the bottle on my nightstand and faceplanted it onto my bed. I turned on the lamplight and stored the wine in my wardrobe. While Eric laid outstretched, I swiftly put on pajama shorts and a clean t-shirt. I ran a shaky hand through my hair and proceeded to do the same actions as Eric. Which would be to face plant into my bed as well. 

I turned my head to see his. His eyes were slowly closing, and they looked exhausted. _' You look like shit,'_ I thought to him. He rolled his eyes and brought his arms to rest his forehead on. I sat up and put my weight on my left arm. 

"What happened tonight?" I asked with a concerned tone. 

"I got really anxious and tired, so I thought having a little drink would help," Eric let out a deep breath. "Then it turned into almost an entire bottle of wine." My lips spread into a half frown. 

"I'm surprised that you even resorted to alcohol and the fact that you took an entire bottle for your first time," I giggled. "I've never had it before, so I wouldn't know my limits." We sat up, cross-legged, and started a conversation. We had to keep our voices down because of my family heading off to sleep. I told him about the restaurant talk. 

"It felt weird without you telling me what to say or do," I pouted into my hand. Eric scoffed and crossed his arms. 

"Good to know you still rely on me," he winked and let his weight fall onto the bed. My body froze for a few seconds and came back to reality soon enough. "What are you implying?" I asked and fall with him. He kicks his shoes off and strips his shirt off. His bare chest caught me off guard for half a second. 

"Nothing," he said as if nothing happened. 

I was about to protest, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. We've cuddled before, like an insane amount of times, but this one felt more intimate. Maybe it has to do that he's half-naked and holding me or the fact that I'm nuzzled into his neck. Either way, I don't think I'd wish for this to end. 

Eric reached behind himself to turn off my lamp and brought his arm around me. I closed my eyes and rested my ear on his heartbeat. 

Each day seems that I'm falling for him more and more. 


	8. Two-Player Game pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy catches up with the Squip Squad. Michael, oddly enough, seems better the next day. Then he seems different at times during the morning. He'll learn more about it during their hangout.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock on my phone. My eyes were still closed because the grogginess hasn't gone away. My face smushes into something as I use my arm to reach over the object in my way. I furrow my eyebrows as my hands barely touch my nightstand. The aggravating beeping is still going on. 

Quickly enough, my eyes open partially to see my surroundings. Finally, the alarm has stopped in its tracks because it's on snooze. I forgot that happens when you don't press 'stop.' I let out a yawn and bury my face into the softness in front of me. Give me five minutes, and I'll get out of this position to get equipped for school.

A few seconds later, I realize that what I'm smooshing my face into is Eric's bare chest. He's still snoring, which means he's out like a light. Also, I'm surprised I've woken up before him on a school day. I've set my alarm to 6:40. Which is probably like 6:45 now. That also reminds me, I need to get up right about now. 

As best as I can, I untangled myself from his grip on me. Then I yank my legs out of the covers to slip off of the bed. He lets out a distressed grumble and curls his arms toward his chest. I sighed and jumped onto the bed to wake him up. That alcohol must've put him to sleep. I let out a chuckle and started poking the hell out of him. 

I poked his sides to see if the pressure points would make him jump. When he didn't awaken to my pokes, I moved to more places. Then I poked at his shoulder. If someone walked in on me right now, they'd probably question their sanity. The thought of that makes me giggle. 

Now that I'm thinking about it, I can't stop laughing. It's funny that he passed out from alcohol. He's not waking up because he's so tired. My eyes started to get watery, and I didn't realize it until a warm, damp tear rolled down my cheeks. It went to my chin and fell onto the comforter. A miniature puddle formed and more came along the way. 

I also didn't realize that my laughing halted to quiet sobs. I'm probably going to be late to school, Michael won't talk to me because of something, my family will yell at me for not eating breakfast, and Eric isn't awake yet. It's not even that many days into school. This is my second day, and I'm already having a crying session. 

"Eric, please wake up," I shake him back and forth. His chest is rising up and down, so he's not dead, thankfully. "W-We're going to be late for school," I let out a sniffle. 

I'm trying to wrap the reason around my head on why Eric not waking up is getting me so worked up. Puberty could be the main component in this, but I'm not 100% sure. Maybe it's the feelings for him I'm starting to no longer bury deep down. I'll never tell him anytime soon. 

These few weeks or whatever have been the best in their way. Having my Squip becoming a real human being and interacting with me has gone way better than I imagined. I've noticed that Eric has grown into a comforting and joyful person. He's no longer manipulative and bossy. Okay, he's still bossy, but the manipulative side has gone away. Being around him always makes me giddy inside, and sleeping with him every night has helped those feelings. Sometimes when he's sleeping, I'll go to the bathroom to masturbate about him in my head. 

Sadly, it's not like I could confess to him. There's no and will not be evidence that he loves me back in a million years. All he wants to do is help me go through my senior year. I don't have a goal set, so he's accustoming to that as well as being part human. Well, more human than a computer. 

Then I hear some groaning coming from the body in front of me. I stopped crying and instead started letting out small hiccups. He let out a grumble and rolled over to face me. His palm pressed against his forehead and his eyes were squinted. My eyes darted toward his bare chest that laid right in my eyes. A stutter rose in my throat and felt my cheeks flush pink. 

"Jeremy?" Eric let out a groan and clutched his head. I bolted up onto the bed and gave him a ginormous hug. I felt his muscles tense around me before awkwardly hugging back. He rested his chin on my head while I buried my face into his chest. It felt nice to see him awake. Why wouldn't he be awake?

"As much as I like this comforting closure, we need to get ready for school," Eric pulled away from the hug, and I let out a whine. _'Fine,'_ I thought to him and rolled my eyes. He booped my nose like he always does.

Both of us changed our clothes and did our morning routines at record-timing speeds. We didn't care for the fact that we changed together. It's already 7:00 and we were supposed to be out of there by 6:50. Maybe I could eat an actual breakfast today that my mom made. The only problem is what would Eric eat and do?

"There's a slight problem, Jeremy," I let out a small hum in acknowledgment. Then proceeded to start tying my shoelaces. Today I wore no shirt and just a hoodie with skinny jeans. The hoodie outstretched over my hands, so I rolled up my sleeves a little bit.

"I've looked in at the possible futures and the only way for your mom to not mention anything about us going down the stairs is to do something....drastic," he paused before saying "drastic." I sat up from the floor and leaned against the door. I crossed my arms and said, "Go on." 

"She won't say anything unless it looks like you've just... how do I say this?" he swayed his hands around and cringed through his teeth. Then his expression swept away from his face and pulled out the deadpan face. "Sexual intercourse." That's all he had to say that got me blushing and stuttering.

"I've looked through the possible futures, and this seems to be the only way in which we can get breakfast," Eric rested his palm on my shoulder. I looked up at him with wide eyes. If my pupils were any bigger, they'd probably burst out of my eye sockets. "I'm just saying all the benefits of doing this route would be helpful." 

I let out a long sigh and looked down at the carpet flooring. _'Eric, how is this going to work?'_ I awkwardly grounded my shoes into the carpet. The next steps to speak weren't working, and I'm too embarrassed to speak at all. Never in my life would I imagine that I'd do something this uncanny. 

_'Well, I'm sure I just have to make you flustered, a mess, and staggering a bit,'_ Eric walked backward to the bed with his hands shoved in his pockets. _'You just have to think about it so calmly, don't you?'_ I puffed my cheeks out and rolled my eyes. It makes me peeved off that he's so chill about it. If Eric wanted to say something about my snarky comment, he would've said something. 

I whimpered and dragged my shoes through the carpet to my bed. Eric didn't say anything, but I felt his gaze follow me. I shoved my face into my hands. "This is so stupid," my whine came out muffled. Eric placed a hand on my wrist and pulled my hands away. I'm surprised he did that. He usually just places a hand on my shoulder. 

"It's kind of funny if you think about it," he smiled and booped my nose. I wrinkled my nose and felt a heat rise in my cheeks. A giggle escaped me, and I fully turned to face him. He had this look in his eyes. It made me feel all bubbly and warm inside. Then his body language felt so inviting and comforting. I felt myself getting hotter by the second. 

"You're so adorable, you know that, Jeremy?" Eric paused before saying my name. The fact that he said my name deeper than the rest of the sentence got me all red. "I could smoosh you in a second." He started to crawl closer to me. 

I held my ground and watched him tower over me. 'Is this your goal?' I gulped and felt my lips quivering. My arms were aching from being in an uncomfortable position. They were bent the other way. Then my legs started to get agitated. I guess it happens when they're not moving for a while. 

My whole body stopped working when I saw Eric hovering over me. I know that he's just doing this so we can both eat a normal breakfast for once, but there's this nagging thought deep inside of my head. He's also taking a shot at making me all hot and bothered because he genuinely likes me. 

_' What better way to make it look convincing when I know what makes you tick,'_ Eric let out a low chuckle. I could tell he's trying to sound sexy. I've picked up a few things about humans from Eric. All the way back when he was the Squip inside of my head. _' And you think I don't remember these things,'_ I raised an eyebrow and smirked, cockily. 

Eric rolled his eyes at me for what's probably the thousandth time. His body touched mine, and I tried my best not to think about anything bad. Let me be more specific. Anything about this situation will give me an erection so hard I'll pass out, so I'm trying not to have that happen. Although, I'm sure that my body isn't corresponding with my pleads. 

"This isn't what I expected my morning to turn out as," I let out a sarcastic remark. That earned a wholehearted laugh from Eric. I could feel his steamy breath on my neck. It made me shiver, and I felt my body getting hotter. 

Apparently, he caught my reaction. I could feel his lips convert into a cheeky grin. It made me roll my eyes in bliss and annoyance. He was in between my legs, our bodies were touching, and he's close enough to kiss me. How am I not getting a boner you say? Well, it's because I'm thinking of things that get me turned off. 

Now I can't think of those turnoffs because Eric began to purposely start letting out long, desperate breaths on my neck. I let out an inaudible whimper and bit my lip. My nails clutched his shirt a little bit. Not too hard to dig into, but enough to put a wrinkle. 

His plan to make me flustered and squirming is working like a charm. I don't think I've ever been tortured like this before. I'm not into it. I don't get how people have kinks for these teases. As a teen -almost-adult- who is masturbating daily, I'd die before the actual fucking begins. 

"You're so hot, Jeremy," Eric gave a quick peck to my neck. I froze in my place at let out peculiar, strangled noises. They sounded as if I was trying to form a word or sentence. If it was, it was a disastrous attempt. "I'd love to pin you down and fuck you like that's all you were made for."

"Oh my god!"I ripped my arms from their bent position and covered my face. _' I'm trying so hard to think about different things than what's happening right now,'_ I confessed and shook my head through my hands. That gave way a grin to his adorable face.

Then Eric sat up between my legs and dragged me with him. I sat on my knees and squinted my eyes. My hands were still concealing my face. I whined and furiously shook my head. This event got me a blushing, flustered, and embarrassing mess. And Eric knows it too! This little devilish piece of shit. I couldn't be upset with him though. 

"Let's go down before we're ultra late for school," Eric jumped off the bed and ruffled my hair. I rolled my neck and combed a hand through my hair. 

We walked out of the door and made our way down the stairs. Evan and my stepmom were in the kitchen eating breakfast. My mom was humming a song while flipping pancakes. The smell is amazing, and I felt my mouth start to water. It has been a long time since I've had pancakes. I walked to the kitchen in a daze and plopped down on the stool. 

My face slammed into the table. I groaned and I could feel my family's eyes on me. Then I could tell Eric sat next to me on another stool. Through my arms, I could see my backpack on the floor next to me. 'Sit up, don't slouch or it's not going to work,' Eric kicked my foot, and I sat up with a grumble.

Not going to lie, I probably looked like hell. I felt like shit after not being able to get off. I turned to my side to see Evan batting an eye at me when I looked at him. He continued munching on his cereal. My stepmom turned to me with a somewhat shocked expression, but then put it off as if nothing's happening. 

Instead, she went to greet Eric. She placed some pancakes on some plates and handed them to Eric and me. There are two slices of bacon on both of our plates. Eric was surprisingly correct, she did serve us breakfast with no difficultly. 

"You must know Jeremy," she wiped her hands with a rag she had on her shoulder. Eric smiled and greeted her. They made small talk while I nibbled on my bacon. It clicked in my head that she didn't say "boyfriend" or just "friend." 

Then Evan nudged my shoulder while I had begun pouring the syrup on my pancakes. I licked my fingers and turned to him. I raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you need?" I poked at my food with my fork. Evan put a hand to his mouth to show he needed to swallow his cereal. "Are you two dating?" he whispered to me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head "no." 

I'm more taken aback that he looked shocked at my response. "I wish," I whispered to him and let out a long sigh. He laid his hand on my shoulder in a comforting motion. I smiled at him and continued eating my breakfast. Eric had already engulfed down his breakfast, while I still had to finish my last pancake. 

My stepmom seems to enjoy Eric. It's good to know that she's not going to question much about him anymore. That was annoying when I couldn't go to my room without checking behind me. Now I could check that off the list of getting my stepmom to like Eric. Next, I need to figure out Michael's business, which is obviously not my problem, but I'm curious. 

"It's been wonderful to talk with you, Mrs. Heere," Eric shook her hand and stood up from the table. Evan walked away to put his dishes in the sink. I shoved the last bite into my mouth and left my plate on the table. I drank the water bottles that were on the counter and began to walk towards the garage.

"Oh please, call me Heidi," my stepmom spun the car keys in her hand and led Eric to the garage. We hopped inside the car and waited for Heidi to join us. Eric sat next to me in the back while Evan took the front seat. 

Heidi pushed the car button to start the car and locked the doors. Evan loves to use the garage remote. I get the reason why he likes it. It's fun to click it and watch the door lift. Then when Evan did that, we headed off towards school. Although, we had to wait a little bit because Evan goes to a different school. 

Evan's school was different than ours. It seemed more..sophisticated.. than ours. I watched as he got out of the car. He had his head hung forwards, and he didn't make eye contact with anyone around him. No one seemed to want to talk to him either. The thought of that made me kind of sympathetic to him, but I couldn't do much with the stress of the new school year. 

Mom began driving us to our school. Eric held a good posture in the car seat while I slumped in my seat. I didn't even want to look out the window to see the telephone poles pass by. For some reason, it didn't feel right to look out the window. All these weird emotions started popping up at the beginning of the month. It either has something to do with the Squip coming back, or how puberty hits at the dumbest times. 

Thank god the school pulled up. We were fifteen minutes early. That gave me some time to catch up with Michael. Once my stepmom pulled up to the front of the school, I hopped out of the car with my backpack hanging loosely off my shoulders while Eric carried a college schoolbag, professionally. I furrowed my eyebrows in question on when and how he got that. 

"I'll be waiting in class for you, Jeremy," Eric used his index finger to carry his backpack over his shoulder. Some freshman girls were eyeing him like he is candy. 

"Okay, see you then!" I called behind me and ran up to Michael's locker. Again, the halls were filled with kids rushing to get to their class or kids getting to their lockers. I tried to look overhead at the students to get a sense of the brown curls and white headphones. Then I saw him with his headphones down, closing his locker. 

"Michael!" I called to him. His head shot up to look at me. The smile on his face brightened and we held out our hands for our handshake. "Yo, Jeremy!" he fist-bumped me and we knocked our knees together. We kind of changed our secret handshake, but at the same time, nothing major changed. 

"Are we still on for afterschool video games at yours?" I dug my nails into the straps of my backpack. If Michael said no, I don't know what I would do after school today. Hanging out again would be one of the best things this year. 

"Yeah! I can't wait!" Michael dug his hands into his hoodie pockets. After that, we stood in front of each other in awkward silence. No, it wasn't because of the Eric situation and the mood, we just didn't know what to talk about. Our conversations last year were mainly about Christine, and how I'm obsessed with her. 

When I opened my mouth, Michael had done the same thing, so we ended up talking over each other. I let out a nervous chuckle, and Michael gave me a goofy smile. "Hey, Jeremy, I'm sorry for acting all weird yesterday," Michael rubbed the back of his neck. "I just saw Eric here, and my protective instincts kicked in." 

My face fell in a sympathetic smile. "For some reason, he reminds me of the...... Squip," he paused before saying 'Squip.' I felt my eyes bulge in my sockets. There's no way he put all the pieces together in the span of one day. There's no way he could've, right? 

"Why would you say that?" I nervously fidgeted with my thumbs. Only one thing I could do at this moment. Panic profusely. _'Oh god, I think Michael found out about you,'_ I told Eric. Thank god it only took a few seconds for him to respond. _'Convince him that it's a silly idea and laugh it off,'_ Eric replied. 

"That's such an out of nowhere thing to say, Michael," I gave the best convincing smile I could. I lightly punched him on the shoulder in a joking gesture. Michael raised an eyebrow but shook it off with a grin. "Yeah, I must be still a little paranoid you're going to leave me again." 

"Look, man, I'm still very sorry about the incident," I rubbed my head and looked at the school ground. It's browner from all the dirt that students drag in. "I'm always here for you if you need it, dude," I looked at the clock for the time. Once I saw it was a few minutes before class, I nodded my head towards the school classes. 

"Same goes for me, I'm always here for you as well," Michael started speed-walking with me to homeroom. 

The moment we entered the classroom, Michael locks eyes with Eric. Eric watches as Michael looks at him with piercing eyes. I'm standing right next to him as well, and I can see him fist his knuckles. "Hey, uhh, Michael, are you good?" I ask, and hesitantly reach my hand towards his. Then he retracts his grip and snatches his hand away from mine. 

"I'm fine, Jeremy," his voice lowers, and he walks away from me. I take a seat next to him. Eric is sitting up front. He turns around to look at me, smiles, and then turns back to listen to the teacher. 

"Dude, what just happened?" I poked his arm. "I don't trust that 'friend' or 'cousin' or whatever you called him," Michael laid his chin on his palm. I turned to the whiteboard to write down what the teacher was talking about. Some events for the school year and the attendance were being done. The worrying expression on my face resided there for a little bit. 

Eric flashed me a genuine smile and proceeded to prop himself in his chair with his arms crossed and legs on the table. It's annoying the fact that he could sit like that. He acts so cool, and for what purpose? I'd lay off him, but today I'm sort of pissed. _' You're acting ignorant today,'_ I turned my head to the side to stop facing him. _'Why don't you and Michael make up?'_

My expression faltered when I didn't get a response a few seconds later. An awkward silence hung between the both of us while the room busied with kids talking. I curled into myself a little bit and stayed in that position. The notes the teacher was discussing didn't seem essential, so I stopped writing them in my spiral. I've switched from writing to drawing random sketches on my paper. 

One of them was a character from a video game that I watched some YouTubers play. For some unknown reason, it's become popular, and I don't get why. In my opinion, it doesn't seem fun, but the characters are easy to draw, so it's good at wasting time during school. 

Michael poked me with the eraser part of his pencil. As if on cue, I snapped my body to face him. We looked to make sure our teacher wasn't looking so we could whisper to each other. "I'm sorry about acting like a dumbass at the beginning of class," he apologized. A sympathetic smile spread across my face. "A lot of things have been happening, and Eric said some things that peeved me off." Once I heard those words, my smile faltered. 

"Here, why don't we talk about this when I come over?" I let out a sigh and squeezed Michael's arm. I locked eyes with him, and I saw them sparkle. It felt awkward to stare at him, so I turned away to pay attention to the teacher. "I'd love to get some things about him off my chest," he whispered to me. _' You know how I'm going to hang with Michael today, right?'_ I wrote some more of the agenda from the board while thinking that to him. 

' I can't remember if you told me or not. Nonetheless, it is none of my concern whether you're out for the day or not,' I watched him start packing his pencils and books. I checked the clock and realized it was a minute before the 2nd period. Everyone already started heading out towards the door. I hastily grabbed my books, shoved them into my backpack, and headed out the door. 

Just as I exited homeroom, the bell rang. Soon enough kids came walking out the classroom doors. The halls were flooded with children as they all ran to their lockers and classes. Some kids ran past me and shoved me to the ground while doing so. I cursed under my breath and began picking my books that fell out of my backpack. 

"Need a little help?" I heard Eric say from behind me. When I looked up, I saw his face, handsome and beautifully structured. "We're going to be late for class, you know," I shove all my books in one go and head towards my locker. "Don't you need to be a role model or something? I roll my eyes at him. 

"I'm getting used to the feelings, emotions, choices, or whatever," Eric flicked his nails and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I choose to help you," he stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground. The light feeling of a blush crept on my cheeks. It made me laugh at how easy it was to get over my frustrations with him. 

More kids left the hallways every second we stood at my locker. If we don't start going soon, we're going to get detention, and I don't want to break that news to Michael. We didn't start walking to class though. We only stared at each other. His eyes were like a deep blue ocean that I wanted to explore the dangers in. There was a natural smile on his face that I caused, hopefully. 

"Let's get to our classes," Eric hauled me over his shoulders and began running in the halls. I started laughing uncontrollably and kicked my feet onto his chest. I could see some kids were looking at us like we were crazy. Thank god we beat the bell. Eric saved my hangout session with my best friend in the whole world. 

~~~

Lunch was something else. All of the Squip Squad ran up to us during the lunch line and hugged us. Well, not all of the squad. It was only Brooke and Christine. Rich just high-fived us while Jake, Chloe, and Jenna were chatting and talking at their table. Eric was nowhere to be seen, and I thought he was going to join us for lunch. 

Everyone caught up with each other. Michael got to chat it up with Christine all the way. They didn't talk to us the entire lunch. Jake offered me candy for what happened at the party. I declined him and told him it was fine. It should be me thanking him because I would've never got my Squip back. 

Then the end of the school day came soon enough. Michael picked me up, and we drove home. I missed the smell of his house. It was a nice candle scent that his moms loved keeping lit. Speaking of his mom, I haven't seen them in a while. They made cookies for my arrival too. That made my day. 

In Michael's basement, we played games, ate cookies, and drank plain old water. For once, Michael forgot to stock up on his mountain dew, and he didn't want me to feel uncomfortable, so we just drank bottles of water. The cookies were chocolate chip. I don't remember the last time I had freshly baked, homemade cookies. It felt so good to have the sweetness melt in my mouth. 

We played Super Smash Bros Ultimate. I played as Kirby while Michael tried out playing Steve. Michael let me win a few games because he knew that I liked to win. He's an excellent friend, and I couldn't ask for a better one. Then he sat up in his beanbag chair and began beating me in every game. He had to flex every time he won by getting up and giving me a sly smirk. 

After we hurt our thumbs by pressing too many buttons, hurt our throats from screeching at each other, and our eyes needed to rest from darted from points on the screen, we took a break. Next, we moved our beanbags closer to each other to watch videos on our phones. There were some new memes that Michael got from his discord servers. My memes rarely got a laugh out of Michael, but when they do, he lets out the cutest laugh. I'll never admit that to him.

Hours passed of us hanging out like we used to. Outside, the sky started during black, indicating nighttime. I checked the time on my phone. It was around 6:30. I sat up in my beanbag chair and turned off my phone. I'll have to save my phone battery if I'm going to stay up a little longer. 

"Jeremy, I got to tell you some things about Eric," Michael blurted out. I almost choked on the water I started to sip. I drank the entire bottle, threw it into the trash bag, and turned to Michael with a shaky smile. 

"He came up to me and told me that he'd kill me if I ever hurt or took you away from him," Michael repositioned his glasses and stared at the basement ceiling. My eyes grew wide from what he had said, and I felt my jaw drop. I couldn't close it. 

"Eric and I argued for a while the first day of school in the hallway, and no one seemed to hear us or pitch in," Michael did the thing he does when he's nervous. By that I mean he played with his fingers in his hoodie pocket. Just thinking of Eric saying something like that boggles my mind. A million memories crossed my mind of Eric as my Squip when he was trying to take over the school. 

"I don't know what to say," I sounded inaudible. It was clear that Michael could hear me though. "The easiest thing I could tell you is that you should get him out of your life." I turned to him with tears starting to form in my eyes. My heart shattered into helpless pieces. Everything in my body felt like it was closing in on me. 

"I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, but don't you think he acts a lot like the Squip?" Those words Michael said went through one ear and out the other. I want to hate him, but I'm too into him to feel anything for Eric. All that I can feel is guilt, and I hate it. I let out a sigh and got up from my seat. 

"I'm going to need to think about this," I didn't look at Michael in the eye. "I'll see you at school tomorrow." With that, I left the room with my phone in my hand. Obvious tears were streaming down my face, but I tried to play it off as water spilling on my face. Michael didn't offer to drive me home because I walked up the stairs too fast. 

_'We need to talk,'_ I told Eric and waited for a response. 


	9. Happy Halloween!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric shows a scary movie to Jeremy, and he's scared as hell afterward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween! Remember to stay safe!

My shoes were wet when I got home. The neighbors had their sprinklers going. I was too pissed and worried to care. Eric thinks he's all mighty and witty, but I'll show him who he's messing with. I'm going to use my words and not my fists, to be clear. It's not even funny to joke about it, but there's barely any muscle in my arms. 

The moment I unlocked the door, I stormed up the stairs into my room. My stepmom had asked how my day with Michael was, but the words went through one ear and out the other. She didn't call my name again, so I assume she's not going to pester me about it. 

I kicked my bedroom door open to see Eric reading a book on world war II. It must've been for an English or history assignment. When I lowered my foot down, I could see the confusion in Eric's pupils. He looked worried yet deeply intrigued. I quietly closed the door behind me to not disturb my family. Although, the kicking of my door would've alerted them anyways. 

"Jeremy, what was that for?" Eric had a stolid expression on his face. He closed his book and sat up from the bed. I walked over to him and tried to match his height. 

"You!" I stared at him with a gaze that could poke a hole in the ozone layer. There was so much anger in me that I could barely finish my sentence. "Michael told me that you had threatened to kill him!" my voice cracked at the end of that sentence, which made it sound less intimidating. A stupid grin spread across Eric's face. 

Then I heard him start to laugh. A blush of humiliation spread across my face. I got angrier and stomped my foot on the ground. How could he be laughing at something like this? Did I hear Michael's words wrong? Once I realized that I probably looked like a stupid tomato, I calmed down and just crossed my arms as Eric's laughter died down. 

"Sorry, sorry, I find it hilarious that you're so worked up about this," Eric rubbed his eye. It looks like we're both a little tired. Part of me wants to forget this happens and lay down in bed with Eric cuddling with me. "Michael and I were having some...differences..., so I put him in his place." He smirked all cockily as he does. 

"Eric!" I hit him in the stomach and grit my teeth. "Do you not remember that you separated us?!" I yelled with all my might. "He has abandonment issues, and it kind of made him worried and stuff." I tried to get him to see how this is a terrible thing to do. When I looked up, I didn't realize my vision was blurry with tears. Then the expression on Eric's face made me halt in my arguments. 

His expression completely baffled me. He looked sorry and disappointed in himself. I've never seen him like this. "Hey, Uhm, Jeremy, don't cry, please," Eric wrapped his arms around my lanky body for a hug. The feeling of being in his comforting presence brought more tears out of me. It's not in a bad way, only in the tears of happy relief. 

"I'm so bad at this that I can't even stop you from crying," Eric brought us both to the ground. I buried my face into his chest and let my tears soak up his clothing. "This isn't an excuse, but I'm still learning these new emotions, and I couldn't help myself from saying that I feel like," he paused and then continued after a few moments. "You're the only person that I know that I like being around." 

My pitiful sobs soon turned into quiet, little sniffles. _' The fact that you actually care is beyond me,'_ I couldn't talk without crying again, but I could talk to him through my thoughts. _' Just to inform you, this doesn't change the whole Michael situation.'_ Eric apologized for what seemed like a billion times before we agreed on what would happen next. He'll talk to Michael about everything but won't mention anything about how he's a Squip. 

"Why don't we freshen up and head off to bed?" Eric offered once I got the courage to look up at him. "If you want, we could watch a movie tomorrow instead of going to school." The thought of that would be nice, but I'd like to end my senior year on a semi-good note. "I think we could wait until the weekend," I chuckled and wiped my eyes. 

~~~Time Skip~~~

You could say the first week of school was something. More drama happened this week than the theatre class would like. Christine wouldn't have liked that one if I ever told that to her face. Michael and Eric had a conversation the next day after my mental breakdown. I've been having a lot of those if you think about it. Only later in the night did I realize that Eric might have a crush on me as well. He had sent butterflies to my stomach when we went to bed. 

Both of my two best friends made up, and now they're like frienemies. In a way, I think we're like the three musketeers or the three amigos. Something like that has to correspond with our group. 

When the weekend came around, it was like heaven in one day. For once I don't need to get up at 6:30 only to get to school at a late time. Luckily, I avoided detention each time. Eric knew that I've been sensitive this whole week. Not once did I go a day without being on the verge of crying. Today would be a different type of day. Today, I won't be on the verge of a panic attack. 

The morning felt lukewarm. There was the overlapping warmth of the feathered blankets my family bought everyone. Last night, we opened a window because my stepmom had burned the pizza we were going to have for dinner. It still reeked in my room of the burnt pizza dough. In all, my head poking out of the covers felt chilly with a cool breeze. 

Then the most important feeling of all was when Eric cuddled my petite body. We do this every day, but this day feels like a nice day. I opened my eyes to the morning sun. Unironically, birds were chirping, and it smelled like morning dew. On my neck was Eric's chin. He seemed to be awake before me for a while. 

"Good morning!" Eric whispered with as much enthusiasm as he could. "Would you like to start this weekend off with a movie day?" A thought in the back of my head doubts my decisions. "Are you sure you're not doing this because of my meltdown?" I asked while laying my head back down on my pillow.

"I'm doing this because you deserve a break, and I haven't been doing well with emotions, so I'm trying to make up for that too," even though I didn't have eyes in the back of my head, I could see him scratching the back of his. The dubious thought left my head, and I sat up in bed to get ready for a lazy Saturday.

"Now that I think about it, I've been avoiding my family a lot this week," I rested my cheek on Eric's shoulder. He wrapped an arm around my waist, and then he hoisted me over his shoulder. My forehead was so close to hitting the wall behind my bed. I started laughing hysterically and kicking my legs everywhere. 

"Don't worry about your family, Jeremy," Eric propelled his feet out from under the covers. "Today is about you, and it's about how we're going to keep a cool head." He set me down on the floor of my bedroom. I shivered from the chilly breeze flowing through my window. All I have on was a short sleeve shirt that makes me feel skinny and a pair of pajama pants. Sometimes Eric sleeps without a shirt. I still don't know how he's able to do that continues to baffle my mind. 

"We'll need to have breakfast, silly, and I don't do well with only snacks for breakfast," I booped his nose and headed down the hallway. Behind me, I could hear Eric getting up and walking with me. His hand lightly brushed my ass, and I halted in my tracks. Of course, Eric is walking down the stairs as nothing happened. What an asshole! I bet he did that to get me flustered. 

Once I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw Eric digging through the pantry. Since it's Saturday, my family would be sleeping in after a long, exhausting week. Eric walked out with a box of Cheerios. I covered my mouth with my hand to stifle my yawn. Then I walked up to the refrigerator to grab a jug of milk. _' I guess today is a cereal day, huh?'_ I yawned again and began pouring a bowl of cereal and milk. 

The sound of the microwave buttons caught my attention. 

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow at Eric. "Popcorn and cereal?" 

He gave his stupid grin that always made me laugh. Come to think of it, I haven't had popcorn in a long time. I've always had a bucket of popcorn at the movies, but we haven't gone to the theaters in a while. We sat in comfortable silence while we waited two minutes for the popcorn to pop. Time flies by as we munch on our breakfast.

Soon enough, the microwave dings to signify the popcorn has finished. I grabbed a bowl for Eric, and he carefully took the bag out of the microwave. He hissed when his palm came in contact with the burning bag. I chugged the rest of the sugary milk in my bowl and walked over to the sink. Eric gave me his as well.

After breakfast, we headed back upstairs to spend the day watching movies. My laptop was plugged into the charger on my bed. Our drinks and popcorn snacks were prepared. The chilly breeze earlier has been taken care of, and my door has been locked. Both of us hopped on the bed and snuggled under the covers.

"I'll let you pick a movie," I offered. Eric looked at me with a raised eyebrow. He pushed the laptop back to me. I crossed my arms and told him that I don't know many movies. The only ones I know are The Emoji Movie, and that one called Howl's moving castle. A goofy smile appeared on his face, and he turned the laptop away from me to pick. 

"Are you going to surprise me or something?" I tilted my head to the side. I tried to peer over the back of the screen to see what he's looking at. The only thing I could see was him moving his finger on the cursor pad. There were so many movies he could choose from. Almost all of them in the world because we have so many cable subscriptions like Hulu and Disney+. 

In my family, we rent as many movies as we want. My parents want us to do our chores though to pay them back. 

"I think I found one we'll both enjoy," Eric clicked on the rent button for Amazon Prime. Then he turned the laptop to show me what movie we're watching. It already started playing, so I grabbed the popcorn and cuddled closer to Eric. For some reason, it's freezing, and I don't think the blankets will do. Also, it started getting cold out of nowhere. A few moments ago, I was all warm and humid. 

The screen title popped up to show the original Halloween movie. When I saw that title, my eyes widened. I've never been a good one with scary movies. Every part of my body wanted to tell Eric to pick another one, but he already rented it, and he looks so happy that we're watching it. I'll have to deal with my shaky body all day, I guess.

We were halfway through the movie. By the time that it was almost over, I couldn't stop whimpering and shivering. I clutched Eric's arm for dear life. If he didn't put me into his lap instead, I would've cut circulation off to his arm. My face was buried in his chest to shield my eyes from the terrifying scenes on screen. 

Myers had jumped out of the closet to attack the boyfriend. I only heard choking sounds, and I plugged my ears. I don't know how, but Eric stayed perfectly calm. He seemed to be enjoying the movie way more than I am. 

"Eric, please turn it off," I start sniffling. The screams and footsteps are cut off on the laptop. Then I hear it being closed and put away. Even though it's a movie from the 1970s, it's still scary with the bad makeup and CGI. I don't know if there's CGI or not in it. I'm not good with movies, especially with scary ones. 

"Hey, hey, hey, don't cry, you're safe," he rubbed circles into my back and fell onto the sheets. It didn't cross my mind that Michael Myers could be real, and he would come to kill me. He scared me so much in the movie. I wasn't even watching it half the time because I kept on closing my eyes.

"Are you sure?" I looked up at him with my best puppy eyes. His certainty was all I needed to be sure that I won't die tonight. More thoughts crossed my mind of all those people screaming. The blinds were closed, so it was mildly dark. Footsteps were coming to my room, and I freaked out for a second. "Someone's c-coming to kill us!" 

The door opened, and Evan appeared in the doorway with another person. It must've been his friend he's telling me about. Jared was his name, I think? We both looked at each other in shock. Eric and Jared made eye contact. I was still in pajamas, and so was Eric. We were in a position where it looked not so platonic. 

"What are you guys doing here, haha?" I lightly chuckled to get the mood going. 

"We were going to ask if y-," 

"Evan, you never told me your step-brother had a boyfriend!" Jared started cut Evan off and started smirking. "We shouldn't disturb them because they seem to be _busy_." He winked at us and closed the door. I shoved my face into his chest and groaned. This is so embarrassing, and Eric hasn't said a thing. 

"Jeremy, you're fine, and I'll punch anyone if they ever try to hurt you," Eric ruffled the hair on my head. I shakily smiled and tried to get closer to him. 

"Promise?" I asked.

"Promise," he stuck out his pinky for me to signify the childish secret keeper or whatever it was. 


	10. The truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael deserves the truth, and Jeremy is going to give it to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally get the easy classes, and then I realize that I'm lazy as fuck.

Ever since movie night, I've been a blushing mess in front of Eric. It's the fact that he's seen me get scared after the stupidest thing. Eric ended up telling Evan about my incident with the Halloween movie. To which Evan told Jared. Who says that he's told everyone at their high school. Evan reassured me that Jared isn't that popular, and not many people would believe him nor care.

Even though Evan told me that, I was never sure. Anxiety has its ways to fuck you over. Saturday was its own event, and Sunday came back weirdly. It was one of those days where you didn't know how it was going to go down. It was one of those days when time flies by slowly that you feel like 10 hours have gone by when only 10 minutes have. I felt overall tired, stressed, anxious, and a mess.

All of that went away when Eric made breakfast for me that day. Up until now, I had no idea how much of a good cook he is. He's nice enough to leave some for my family, and he left a cute note saying, "enjoy the food and a good morning!" Isn't that the cutest thing ever? Another thankful thing to have is that my family doesn't mind Eric in the house. They treat him like he's part of my bloodline whenever he's home.

Around noon, Eric forced me to study for my tests coming up. He used his serious tone of voice and didn't give me motivation. The past Squip part of himself showed during those moments, but I rolled my eyes during it. He doesn't mean it exactly. He only wants me to do good in school. I told him he'd be amazing at teaching little kids. Then he responded with, "At least I could get past teaching _and_ learning." 

There was the sarcastic, insulting humor I remember. Eric has been here for me through a lot. It's nice to know that he's pushing me to do these things to prove that he's still my Squip. I might get the wrong message, but I wouldn't dwell on it. We studied for a little over an hour until my eyes were starting to burn, and I couldn't tilt my head up without hurting it. 

_'You're doing the thing you do again,'_ Eric thought to me. His thoughts caught me off guard, and I jumped in my seat. _' What am I doing?'_ I turned in my chair to look at him. _' Whenever you're focused on something, you bite your lip kick your feet.'_

Now that I thought about it, I do that frequently. Michael pointed it out one day but indirectly. I forget what we were doing exactly, but he asked, "Are you, okay dude?" Then I realized that I was making a tiny dent into the bottom of my desk with my knees. I told him I was doing fine, and we left it at that. 

_' What's wrong with my weird habits?'_ I scrunched my eyes and giggled. That got an annoyed look out of him. Then he does that smirk/smile that I know is his thing. "I can make fun of you for your habit!" I pointed at his lips. He stared at my finger, and his eyes darted to my eyes. "Whenever I make you laugh, or you prove your point, you do this expression that always makes me feel stupid." 

"No, I don't!" Eric jokingly slapped my finger away from his face. I watched his lips sneer into a smile. "You're doing it right now!" I called him out for it. Instead of finishing writing the last few sentences for my study guide, we joked about the habits we do. The charming act made me realize how well we know each other. Not even my best friend knows about these habits I do. 

The laughter finally died down, and my smile faded away. Another idea came to my mind. Michael. Telling that story that Eric and I had come up with to Michael was such a rookie move. Ever since the... _event_... at the play last year, Michael has been on his toes. His paranoia has spiked to 200%. There's a definite chance that Michael took that cover-up story as a bad thing. Maybe he took it as Eric is abusing me by saying that everything is okay, and I'm fine, but I'm not at the same time. 

"It feels weird lying to Michael," I hug my chest and look up at Eric. "Why do you feel this way? We played out cards correctly, and if you don't screw up-," he poked and prodded his index finger against my chest. I could tell he was getting a little less goofy and a little more pressing. "We should be able to let this be in the past." 

I looked at him and saw that we were close enough to feel each other's breaths on our faces. I sighed, pulled my legs to my chest, and laid my head on them. "It's making me feel guilty, that's all." My hair was a mess of curls in front of my face as I averted my eyes from Eric's. We sat in another uncomfortable silence before Eric started another conversation. 

"Would you like to tell Michael the truth, yes or no?" he pinched the bridge of his nose and used a serious and annoyed tone. A weight shifted on the bed, and I saw him get off the bed to stand with his hand on his hip. His hand ran through his hair and scratched it. To my surprise, my immediate thought was to say no. 

"So it's a no?" Eric raised an eyebrow with that stupid smirk. "First of all, you did that smirk thing again," I pointed out, "Secondly, I do want to tell Michael the truth." 

"Let me just confirm this so I may run it through the possible futuristic outcomes," Eric said in a sarcastic voice. I nodded in affirmation, and he walked away from me to think. I pulled out my phone to text Michael about some upcoming stuff. While I slowly backed away from my room, I opened up my phone to shoot him a text. _'Before you go, I'm going to go for a bit, so you could have your me-time with those outcomes, okay?'_

There wasn't another word after that. I might've interrupted his thinking, but he hasn't bugged me about that yet. I anxiously wait for Eric to come back to tell me if I should or shouldn't. A few minutes pass, and then more, and then some more. 

I end up texting Michael, telling him that I need to confess something to him. I tap the back of my phone, worriedly, to help my anxiety a bit. It didn't help, but I couldn't stop the habit. There were a few seconds of reading the message over and over again until I saw the three dots. He's typing back, so that's good. I hope that he doesn't question me about it. 

~~~

Jeremy's intrusive thoughts were getting in the way of my thinking. I'm trying to make sure his life doesn't fall apart. That's the point of why I'm still here, kind of. I think that's why I'm staying at least. Okay, there's nothing wrong with Jeremy. He's capable of working through these life choices on his own. 

Then why do I continue to help him through these decisions? Is there something wrong with me? Am I too obsessed with being right and getting the better of him? Not even my ability to predict certain paths to the future can help me answer this question. All I know is that it all started once I began hanging out with Jeremy. 

Every time I hung around the kid, I get this feeling in my gut. This feeling is so euphoric and calming. It's like having syrup and pancakes mixed with whip cream, fruit, and candy. The breakfast meal is made into one big stack that you have all to yourself. That is until the younger sibling wants in on the pancake stack. 

Now that I think about it, that might be why Michael pissed me off so much. It's all because of these feelings that I have. 

These feelings I have for Jeremy. 

My thoughts are abruptly cut off from the possibilities that come to me. It's Jeremy having a panic attack in his room. Then I come in to comfort him. We're both hugging each other, and he's wiping his tears on my shirt. In this event, we sit in silence, he calms down, and we continue with our lives. Part of me knows I can do better than hugging to help ease Jeremy's panic attacks. 

The next possible outcome is Jeremy having the same panic attack, but I start yelling at him instead. I shut that possibility out as fast as possible. I'm never yelling at Jeremy in a state like that, even though I'm an asshole. 

Each of the outcomes is the same thing. Jeremy has a panic attack after telling Michael the truth. I come in and comfort him in one way or another. With this evidence I've gathered, I can conclude that it's not a bright idea to tell Michael. If Jeremy hasn't blabbered to Michael yet, I shouldn't have to comfort him. 

That makes me sound rude. I would love to be the one there for him, but I don't want him in a panic attack. Yeah, that makes me sound like a thoughtful human being.

One last outcome shows up in my head. The events in it are the same. Jeremy's crying, I help him, we sit there for a bit, the whole thing, right? What happens next is that I start speaking to him. In the other ones, we sit in silence, which helps calm him down. I hear myself _confessing_ to Jeremy. I freeze in place as the futuristic possibility plays out. 

_"I love you, Jeremy, I love you just the way you are,"_ my words are spoken softly to him. My heart speeds up as I wait, anxiously, for Jeremy's response to my confession. I feel my cheeks heat up, which I don't think I've done before. It takes a couple of seconds for him to speak since he's sniffling. 

_"I've wanted to say the same thing to you for so long,"_ his blue eyes stared at mine, intently, in the scene. We start leaning in for a kiss before the outcome is cut off. It's only supposed to be a peek at what's in store if you choose the right way. I don't want to admit my attraction to Jeremy. Of course, I've dreamt about him in sexual ways, but I've never talked to him about them. You're not supposed to, but Jeremy tells me many things. Sometimes I find out about them on my own. 

If Jeremy is going to get hurt, emotionally, at first, then I don't want to confess then. I'll stick to letting him calm down in my arms. Although, there's that thought in the back of my head. The thought that I'm not telling him for my reputation of not showing weakness. The reputation of the throne I sit on. 

I'll...I'll have to think about it later. These are only outcomes if Jeremy tells him. As long as he obeys what I say, it should be fine. I sigh and go back into the room to tell Jeremy, "no." At least I know that Jeremy loves me back. His feelings explain the way he acts around me. 

When I enter the room, I see Jeremy pacing back and forth, texting rapidly on his phone. From the scene alone, I could tell what had happened. I deadpan at his pacing and facepalm. He must've done it because I took too long to come back. 

"Jeremy, Jeremy, what's wrong?" I walked up to him and halted him in his tracks. He looked at me with distress on his beautiful face. 

"I'm so stupid," his phone buzzed, and he began typing again. Once he sent the next message, he spoke to me again. "I told Michael, and he completely flipped out." I took a couple of deep breaths to prepare myself for the conversation. Of course, he screwed himself over. Why wouldn't he? 

"I think he hates me now," Jeremy sent one last text and shut off his phone. I didn't move as I watched him move around in a frenzy. He'll figure this one out on his own, I bet. "Sometimes I feel like that I could disease a bowl of fruit in one touch, ya know?" he threw his phone onto the bed and paced around the room again. 

"Michael began bringing up the reasons why I'm such a bad friend for doing this," once he began talking about it, I could hear him edging himself to hold back tears. That's when I got up to hug him. He stiffened in my grasp, but he went lax once he realized what I'm doing. I heard him let out a few sniffles, and he let it go. 

"Look, I'm not going to be bitter about how you did something without my approval, but I'll talk with you about it another time," I let go of him and looked him in the eye. I playfully squished his cheeks to get the point across. His eyes bulged and batted in a goofy manner. We started giggling, and I'm glad to have his worries in my grasp for a few seconds. At least he's not stressed right now. 

"Tomorrow is another day for us to work this out, so remember to check in with me before you do big things, okay?" I'm getting hungry and sleepy. All I want to do at the moment is get this over with. I should give more thought to what I'm saying to someone who's emotionally distraught, but my sleepiness wins. Jeremy nods, and we settle on having something to munch on. 

That night we fell asleep without talking or thinking to each other. The granola bars we decided on weren't sitting well with my stomach, so I didn't eat the rest of them. Now my stomach is growling at me to eat. I don't want to disturb Jeremy, so I'll have a meal tomorrow. Then I fall asleep to the boy's rhythmic snores. 

~~~

When I woke up, I was immediately hit with the realization of yesterday's events. My dreams were haunted by the intrusive thoughts of Michael's words. If I showed up to school today, I wouldn't be able to talk to him. Eric wasn't being his know-it-all self last night. I'd call this a win in my book. Even though I might've ruined the friendship I've had with Michael. Again. 

I rolled out of bed, taking the covers with me. They got tangled onto Eric's legs, so I was somewhat floating mid-air between the bedroom floor and a burrito blanket situation. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that school is something that I need to go to. 

The morning went by in a haze. Everything I said came out in a mumble of some sort. My family tried to talk to me this morning, but I didn't use words. They got the message and didn't push it. Evan had tried to talk to me, but I didn't feel like talking to my stepbrother. Eric offered to drive me to school. He took my dad's car because my mom had said he wasn't using it. 

Then I got into the car and got driven to school. The moment I stepped out of the car, everything came back to me. It was like I skipped out of time in my mind and came back after it wore off. I sent Michael a bunch of text messages this morning, apparently because my phone has him as my last dm. Although, I barely remember texting him this morning. I must've blanked out while doing it. 

Eric dropped me off to park my dad's car. I walked inside without him. Highschoolers were crowding the halls as always. I saw Michael at his locker. He turned to look at me. There was a moment where I assumed he'd gotten over it, but he gave me a cold stare and walked away. His locker slam echoed throughout the halls even though it was already too noisy. 

My heart sped up as I watched him do that. I ran after him. Teenagers were yelling at me as I bumped into them. I almost tripped, but I caught myself in time. 

"Michael!" I yelled through the sea of kids. He didn't turn around. I knew he could hear me, though. His headphones weren't in, and I don't know many kids in this school named Michael. I pushed past a group of girls to grab onto his hoodie sleeve. 

"Michael, please," I pleaded. He yanked his hand away and turned to me. His expression was blank, but I could tell in his eyes that he's pissed. The glasses have something to do with the seriousness on his face. Then he puts his headset in his backpack to talk. 

"First of all, you break my trust by telling me you brought the Squip back," Michael starts his case. "Secondly, you know how much he hurt our friendship last time!" I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to talk, but I was cut off. 

"No, you let me talk because you've been too busy hanging out with your new friend to even consider me as a companion!" he shouted and shoved me a few inches away from him. Some students batted an eye at us but continued with their lives. "Jeremy, you know how much of a friend you mean to me, but I can't hang out with you if you have... _him_... with you." He pointed to someone behind me. 

Eric stood there, looking menacing as always. He stood to the side like a statue. _'Why do you have to be here!'_ I complained to Eric. 

"I'm sorry, Jeremy, but I don't think I can hang with you until you fix your mistake," Michael looked at me with watery eyes. There weren't tears, but his eyes looked a little misty. Tears had begun forming in my eyes, though. After all these years of our friendship, it's all going away because of a choice I made. It hurts my heart even more than I couldn't imagine destroying Eric. 

"Please, dude, get out of my way," Michael sighed and walked back to his locker. I tried to grab his hoodie sleeve, but I was out of reach. My heart silently shattered at the words that came out of his mouth. Now I know how he felt, crying alone in the bathroom that one night. Eric stood there to my side, not saying anything. Part of me knew that I should be angry with him. 

I'm not angry with him. 

I should be angry, but I'm not.

 _'What's wrong with me?' 'Please fix me.'_ I let a single tear stream down my face. 

With no regard for the school policy, I ran out of the doors and to the parking lot. I needed to get out of school as soon as possible. 


	11. Hey...I love you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big 3 letter sentence that the Squip has yet to tell Jeremy and Jeremy has yet to admit to the Squip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad to finally be almost done with this story. Only a little bit of chapters to go! I'm going to write an extra chapter for this story on ao3 because I accidentally miscalculated the chapters.

I ran past all the students walking into the building. They didn't move away, so I ended up bumping into them. I kept on wiping the tears from my eyes, and I didn't realize I almost tripped and hit my forehead on the concrete. The seconds before catching myself felt overwhelmingly _perfect_. Then my reflexes kicked in, and I put my hands out to catch myself. 

They made contact with the sidewalk, and I felt my skin damage. I cringed, but I sucked it up to keep on running. There were loose pebbles in my hand, but I couldn't care right now. You could ask me where I was running, but I couldn't answer that question. Maybe I was running far away from this town where I wouldn't be known. Maybe I was escaping a year of hell. 

Maybe I was just afraid of continuing the school day. 

_'Jeremy, where did you go?' 'Are you okay? Please be okay,' 'Why'd you run off like that?'_ Eric sent these messages throughout my run through the town. No one was paying attention to the kid going through the streets by himself on a school day. New Jersey isn't the best place to be on your own. From my experience, though. 

My feet were taking me across the grocery store to my house. The Autumn wind tickles my arm. Their winds make my arm hairs stick up. I don't think anyone is at my house. Dad probably left to work, and my mom might be doing her own things. Now that I think about it, I believe my mom works as a nurse? If I recall correctly, she works in the ER department. 

I bumped into a few people on my way to my house. They didn't pay attention to me. It makes you think about how many people care about you in this world. One person on the street that you see could be gone the next day. 

Do I think that I overreacted when Michael told me to get away? Yes, yes I do. It's just my emotions getting the better of me. They've never been this intense before. I don't think that I'd be able to, mentally, go through this year. I would never admit that, though. Should I go back? 

_'Yes, yes you should.'_

Hearing Eric acknowledging my thoughts again was one thing I'd never expect. He hasn't done that in about a month or two. He's had the ability to intrude on my thoughts whenever he wants. I've never scolded him off for that. A random surge of anger started swelling up in my stomach. I've always let my thoughts wander, and he's never talked to me about how I'm feeling. 

_'For once you pay attention and ask about me,'_ I snapped at him. I stopped walking for a second to hear a response. I stared at the ground, somewhat hoping to hear the familiar voice in my head. There wasn't one, though. 

Once I realized how rude that sounded, I started panicking. First, Michael argues with me and tells me to get away. Second, I've barely been able to talk with our friends. Third, I let a random burst of anger get the better of me and ruin this conversation with Eric. He's the only one trying to comfort me too. Why did I yell at him? 

My legs and feet are aching by the time I get home. It feels as depressing as a rainy day. Whenever I walked with Eric to school, my limbs never ached. I sighed and thought about my situation. Michael deserves all the credit for telling me to back off. It's my fault for not telling him about the Squip. The Squip did ruin our school year for the most part. 

What I hate about myself is that I'm not even upset. I should be mortifyingly angry that he's back, and I should down all the mountain dew red. On the other hand, I'm not. Eric is the one person other than Christine that I've loved. You could never stay angry at someone or something that you love. 

Now, I know I should be shunned. I've done all these things to my two best friends. Michael doesn't deserve the pain of having me as an untrustworthy friend, and Eric deserves someone better to help in this world. 

I walk up to my steps to the front door. We're a cliche family and hide the spare key under the mat. I lift the mat and take the key from under it. There are no cars in the driveway, so nobody should be home. Thank the lord because I don't want to be scolded off and cry all the way to school. 

When I open the door, the house sounds empty and eerie. It doesn't seem inviting, but with the mood, I'm having right now, I don't mind at all. 

I kick my shoes off, and they hit the staircase. Then I took my backpack launched it over the railing. It'll land on the support beams. Next, I ran into my room and faceplanted into the bed. It still smelled like him. My bed always smells like Eric since he sleeps with me every night. This time it makes me calm. His scent soothes my nerves. 

Blackness consumed my vision as I stuffed my face into the pillow and sighed. Tears started clouding up my eyesight as well. Everything is started to hurt a lot. I feel the crying fit started to get worse. Like, way, way worse. In the sense that I don't think I'd be able to stop crying, worse. That's when I realized my breathing was getting irregular. 

I'm feeling a panic attack going on. I sit up once the bed becomes too unbearable to exist in. Once I sit up, I feel too dizzy to do anything. My fast-paced breathing isn't doing anything either. All I want is everything to stop. Everything just needs to stop. Please, I need to take a breather. 

I got enough haze away from my mind to crawl onto the floor. That was a mistake. The flooring feels pointy and sharp while my feet are taking the most damage. Sweat is covering half of my body, and my chest is drenched in it. There's a ringing in my ear after I hear some commission from downstairs. 

It all feels worse. I slowly let my body descend onto the floor. On the carpet, it calms me down. One of my ears isn't ringing anymore, but I'm starting to blackout. Patterns of the tear streams in my eyes change course and flood below my cheek. Maybe this is how I'll die. I'll lose to the most painful way possible, which is a panic attack. The thought of that disturbingly calms me down, almost enough to stop my breathing from being irregular.

All of a sudden, I see a figure halting in my doorway. They're breathing heavily, like me, and they seem to be in a state of panic. They also look like they were running hell fast as fuck. It takes me a second to register the person in my room. Then once the fog in my eyes clears up, I see the grave distinction of Eric. 

Eric. 

What's he doing here? He's supposed to be at school. Seeing his presence in my room, even though he's supposed to be at school, makes me feel serotonin. 

"You're supposed to be at school," I hiccup and try to wipe the tears from my eyes. I bring my knees to my chest when Eric walks towards my shaking body. 

"I'm not at school anymore," Eric sits down next to me with a grunt. He keeps his distance from me, but he's in holding hands distance. I feel embarrassed now that he's here. Of course, he's the one that finds me crying and breathing unevenly like a maniac. 

At least it wasn't my family nor Evan that found me like this. That would be a whole different story. If they ever found out about this, they'd treat me like I'm a delicate flower that needs help with living. Although, what's stopping Eric from acting the same? 

"Why did this happen to me?" I tell myself out loud. After a shaky pause, I bury my head into my knees. "Part of me wants to kill myself right now." I sniffle and start sobbing violently again. I try to suck in breaths, but they come in the wrong hole. It feels like I'm choking on air. 

"Everything is my fault. It's all my fault!" I yell at myself and cry harder while the ringing in my head gets worse. My breathing and sobs crash into each other, and the more and more I try to take in breaths, my body fails to take anything in. Soon enough, I'll pass out soon. ' _I deserve not to wake up.'_

"Jeremy, listen to me, you're not worthless, nothing is your fault, everything is my fault," the man had emphasized that it's his fault. The ringing faded away a little bit, and I tilted my head to the side to look at him, still hiding in my limbs. 

He reaches his hand out to my face in a cupping manner. I watch him hesitate for a second, but we stare at each other's eyes for an understanding. My heart thumps in my best, and I feel myself losing control of my feelings. Only thinking about Eric and my feelings for him helped me calm down. I'm no longer breathing raggedly, and I can feel the dizzyness fade away. 

His hand cups the side of my cheek, and he scoots closer. I sniffle and use my sleeves to rub my cheeks. Then I feel my body being lifted into his lap. I blush lightly. As gently as he could, Eric wrapped his arms around my petite body. Being engulfed in his hug made me feel so much joy. I let my happy tears fall. They dripped onto his arms, but Eric didn't mind. 

I hugged him back and sobbed into his shirt. He held me tighter and rubbed circles into my back. This made me feel so warm and loved. No, I can't risk anything right now. Who knows what will happen in the future? There might be more problems that I can't handle. What if Eric gets sick of being around me? There are so many possibilities that I don't think I can-

"I love you, Jeremy." 

I hear those three words spoken out of my crush's mouth. Those three words that I never thought he'd say to me. Haha, he said them to me. Out of all the shit that's happened, he said those words to me. 

"I love you just the way you are."

My heart couldn't take the love. I stare at him to see him blushing. There's that dumbass smile on his face that I've grown to love so much. I giggle and blink my tears away. 

"I've wanted to say the same thing to you for so long," I stare into his eyes, and he glares back into mine. We stay like that, unblinking like we're getting lost in them. Look at his, a maze of zeroes and ones, and mine, plain, boring, and blue. Before, maybe about a year ago, I would've stared into his with hatred and regret. 

Now, I'm staring into them with love and compassion. 

Then I feel him leaning in. My world feels still as his face is a centimeter away from my lips. I arched my back and closed my eyes. I've only kissed Christine, but that was only a few times. I'm not skilled, but then I taste his lips. 

He kisses me with passion. There's some experience in there, but it feels like he's scared to kiss me. I feel my eyes flutter open and then close. Kissing Eric is what you would call a special gift. It's perfect in all the ways possible to you, but to someone else, it might be considered worthless. 

The kiss lasts for a while, and his hands move to grab my waist. I let out a squeak in surprise. Eric smiles into our embrace, and I chuckle back. 

Nothing lasts forever, sadly. We broke apart from the kiss and stared at each other again. I nip at the peeling skin on my lip and fidget with my fingers. Now we're sitting in awkward silence. It's not too bad because we're processing things. I might as well talk about something to lighten up the mood. 

"So, Uhm, you like me?" I mentally facepalm myself for asking a stupid question like that. He flirted with me sometimes, confessed his love to me, and then proceeded to make out with me like it was the last thing he'd ever do. 

"You're too cute, you know that?" I feel my blush starting to form. 

"Come here, let's go to sleep, you need it," Eric lifts me bridal style. I squeak again and wrap my hands on the back of his neck. I'll never get over how he picks me up with no trouble. "You need to stop being so strong," I chuckled nervously. 

"If you say so, I'll turn into a weakling like you," Eric teased. I rolled my eyes as he lowered us onto the bed. Having Eric next to me in bed felt different than all the other times. This time, it feels more intimate and sincere. I watch him take his shirt off and remove his pants. I remove my clothing as well, so we're both in boxers. 

Then we cuddle with each other. I lay my head on his shoulder. 

"Does this make us a couple or something?" I bat my eyelashes at him. 

"I'd love to be your boyfriend, if you would let me," Eric booped my nose. I felt my face turn red, and I smiled up at him. 

"I love you," I peck his cheek and lay back down. Eric kisses my forehead, my cheek, and my lips. It still bewilders me that as him being an android, he fell in love with me. My liking towards Eric strengthens every time I see his bare chest. There's no way he appeared with that much complexion and muscle. 

"Stop staring and go to bed, hun," Eric pulled the covers over us. I'm going to regret waking up at 6:00 PM tonight. Eric makes me feel safe, and I don't feel like I need to worry about missing school. 

There's something dreadful about this, but there's also that lingering feeling of satisfaction and happiness. I love him, and this too much to throw away. 


	12. Shh, Shh, Please Calm Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Squip gets random fits of anger over certain things that happen to Jeremy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long! I haven't had much motivation to continue writing this, but I assure you, I don't want to abandon writing it. I love this story.

That night I dreamt about something good for once. It's not like I haven't had okay dreams for the past month. This time it's like, there's no layer of stress added to it. Tonight I'm able to dream safely. If I have a nightmare, Eric will be there for me. He'll save me if I'm shivering and crying.

Then there's the feeling of being loved. I went to bed with my boyfriend. Saying that in my mind sounds so therapeutic. I thought I was going to die alone. The Squip gave me a chance with Christine, but now I have a chance with Eric. With Christine, I had to do all these shenanigans to get her to talk to me. With Eric, he loves me for me.

Do you know how hard it is to find someone like that? It's heartwarming to have him love me. I want to cuddle with him and go on dates and the whole nine yards. Spending a lifetime with Eric is in my grasp.

I groggily open my eyes to my phone going off. Come on, who's calling me at this hour? I furrow my eyebrows at the sound of the buzzing. My cheek smushes into my boyfriend's chest in the process. I'm still half asleep with my eyes blinking up and down. I'll still need to go to school, sadly. It's what, Tuesday? I can't keep track.

"Ericccccccccccccccccc," I groaned his name. "Are you awake?" I mumbled in a sleepy voice. I kept one eye open to get a little bit of sleep left.

He had his face planted sideways on our pillow. I smiled at how cute he looked while he was asleep. Then I realized my phone stopped buzzing, but I want to see who I missed called. I blinked my eyes a little bit to make the sleepiness away. It worked, somewhat, but I still feel like passing out.

I reached over Eric's chest to snag my phone off of my nightstand. I let out a strangled gasp when my arm stretched. My brain felt dizzy for a second, but it went away just as fast as it came.

On the screen of my phone, it showed that the time is 5:54 in the morning. That's an early time for me to wake up. Although, I did fall asleep at like 2:00 or something. I don't even remember when. My sleep schedule is fucked for sure now. Below the time, there were over twenty messages, and there were ten phone calls I missed.

All of them were either from Christine or my mom. The texts were mainly my mom asking me about "why I'm not at school" and "where are you?" Christine was texting me about if she wanted to hang out today. Then it escalated into what my mom said. One particular text stood out for me.

"Michael told me what happened between you two. Jeremy, why would you do that? You know that Michael is sensitive about the S.Q.U.I.P!" After the time she said that, a couple of minutes later, she started calling me a bunch. She stopped around dinnertime. After reading those texts, I went back to see if my mom said anything or my dad.

"You two better have used protection!" I groaned loudly and shut my phone off at the text my mom sent. Why did my mom have to send that? I regret reading it. What's even more embarrassing is that's my stepmom telling me that.

Thinking about Eric and me doing the...stuff... has sent ideas to my dick. Of course, my hormonal brain does this to me. Come on, what's a big turn-off for you? I try to think of anything that usually I find unappealing.

There was that guy at Jake's party that tried to molest me. Is that the right word? He was touching me without my consent, so I think so. Oh great, now my erection is worse thinking about that stuff. His arms caged around me like I was his prey, and he was hunting. He had the power while I quivered in fear.

I cursed at myself for thinking of that incident. I wasn't comfortable then, so why am I thinking about it now?

I lowered my hand into my boxer shorts to get a grip of my erection. I gasped softly at my cold touch. It seems that Eric is still passed out cold. He's like a perfect human being with the subtle stubble and the muscles he has. Compared to me, Eric could throw me across a football field. I barely have any muscles, but when I'm with Eric, I don't care. 

"Oh!" I stifled my moans as I thought about him more. Coming out of the shower with only a towel around his waist. What about working out and taking his shirt off? 

Here's the scene: Late at night, my parents aren't home, my step-brother isn't home, and it's just the two of us. We've decided it's time for us to have sex. Hopefully, we have sex soon. I'd like to lose my virginity from him. He'd be so gentle, caring, and rough at the same time. 

"Fuck me, please," I breathed out between my fingers. I imagined Eric holding me down, giving me no room to struggle. The raw strength to do something like that is so fucking hot. He'd hold me down and plow me softly. Then I hope he takes his time afterward to cuddle with me and clean us up.

My hand movements sped up. I felt the pool boiling in my stomach and trailing to my dick. Only a little bit more, and I'm there. "Oooh, Eric!" "I'm so close!"

Then the blanket started shifting. It seems like Eric is waking up. That'll be embarrassing if he catches me masturbating right now. This is fine, right? _'Come on, come on, just climax already!'_ I yell at myself. I'm so close I can feel it. Then finally, I feel myself orgasm. A breathy moan escapes my throat. I'll need to clean the blanket today.

"Jeremy?" a groggy voice calls my name. I recklessly pull my boxers back up. Maybe he doesn't realize I took a quick jack-off session right now. "What're you doing...babe?" he mumbles and turns to face me. I curl into a ball so that he doesn't see the evidence. 

"N-Nothing!" I stammer and pull the covers over my body. "I was trying to wake you up earlier, but I figured you wanted to sleep." I give a half-hearted smile with that. Yep, this is fine. Totally. 

"mkay," Eric scooches over so that we're right up against each other. His chest presses against mine, and I feel my cheeks heat up. "How are you getting cuter every time I look at you?" then he wraps his arms around my back. I'm still wrapped up in a ball. I chuckle slightly and scoot closer to him. 

Now we're close enough to hear our own heartbeats. _'Why are you hiding from me?'_ Eric's voice rang through my head. ' _In my opinion, I find you beautiful, and I love you with all my heart. If you're feeling insecure, know that I'll punch anyone who's made you feel that way-'_

 _'You're such an awesome boyfriend!'_ I cut him off while nuzzling my head into his chest. Then I take the opportunity to wipe the cum off of my hand and onto the bedsheets. Our legs ended up intertwined with each other. My face smashed into his pecs while my head rested on his arm. 

Eric began playing with my hair when he could take the chance. I probably have an insane case of bedhead right now, and he's making it worse. Of course, he's messing up my hair. "You're so adorable when your hair is all messy and shit," my lovely computer boyfriend ruffled it some more. 

"Stoppppppppp it!" I slammed my hand into his face to shut him up. "I'm terrible at taking compliments!" It's true. I've never been able to accept a compliment without contradicting the statement. Like, if someone says I'm cute, I'll reply how I'm not at all. My acne is kind of bad. My hair is always screwed up. I don't wear adorable clothing. 

Stuff like that. 

It's like 6:20 AM now. We've been together for almost a day now, and we're cuddling the same bed. Also, we're living together. Well, it's not like we weren't doing that before. This time it feels more intimate and sane, I guess. 

"Will you be adorable every day, hun?" Eric wrapped his full body around me and lifted me over to the other side of the bed. "OH MY GOD!"I screeched and giggled. "PUT ME DOWN!" Our laughter filled the room and somehow brightened the early morning fog. "You're so easy to pick up, though!" 

"NO, I AM NOT!" I felt my cheeks redden. Now I'm lying on top of him. "I'm overweight and horny all the time, kind of like a Reddit user." 

That earned a chuckle from Eric.

"I'm really annoying, stupid, and overall the worst person to ever exist," I stuck my tongue out at him. "If only someone would love me for who I truly am!" there was a pause. Then I leaned down to whisper in his ear. 

"A furry..." 

"OKAY, THAT'S IT!" Eric caught me by surprise and rolled us over each other. He made a mess of my bed, and I forgot about the situation that happened in my pants. Maybe it dried up in time for him to not realize it, or maybe he's oblivious to it. We're still rolling around in the mixture of blankets and pillows. 

By the time that Eric tires himself out, I feel the need to get up and use the restroom. Part of me wants to stay with my boyfriend and cuddle, but the other part tells me that I'll regret not taking a leak. It's a tough decision, but my heart wants to stay in bed with my boyf. 

Eric shifts his thigh so that it brushes against my bulge. I squeak and retract my body to curl into a ball. My head rests on his belly. He looks at me with a mischievous look in his eye. "You say you're horny all the time?" he sits up against the headboard of the bed. 

"A-And overweight," I stutter out. I gulp and move up with him. "Is there a p-problem with that?" My arm moves to help properly set myself upon his v-line. There was a slight peck on what my ass was sitting on, but I already know what that is. It felt girthier than mine, and I'm sure that's only the tip. 

I inhaled deeply and took a chance. I leaned in to connect my lips with his. In my attempts to do so, my knees bent the wrong way, and I landed face-first. I quickly recollected myself and gave Eric a quick peck on the lips. Then I looked away from him for a second, bat an eye, and continued averting eye contact. 

"Everything that comes with you is perfect, oh my god," Eric picked me up from my hips and put me in his lap. It felt nice to be against his chest and noticeable bulge. How do couples do this without getting in the sex mood? 

Eric leaned down to kiss the spot right below my ear. My body reacted by shivering in such a subtle manner. The light contact sent me over the moon. I'm such a thirsty bitch, but I'm Eric's thirsty bitch. I'll never forget that. He continued leaving trails of kisses down my neck as I let my mind drift.

Then my phone had to go off at the wrong moment. Right when I'm about to get some steamy intimate action with my boyfriend. I sighed and leaned over to pick it up. I'll admit it. I got a good look at Eric. His body is sculpted like a model. 

My phone lit up and showed a text message from Michael. That's kind of odd. He's the one who snapped at me, so I ran away from school for the day, and I haven't responded to any of my calls- oh my god I just realized why he must be texting me. Holy shit, I must be worrying the hell out of my friends. 

"Is that asshat bothering you again?" Eric hissed with a pissed-off tone. 

"No, Eric, he's probably just wondering where the hell I am or something," I looked over my shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. 

Eric is sitting up, and I'm spread out along his legs. My body would be breaking his legs. I'm surprised he hasn't moved to get comfortable. I'll see what Michael sent me. I let my phone scan my face, so I could check out the message. 

_"Jeremy, where are you?"_ Michael's text said. I looked at it and pondered what to text back. "Please, he doesn't deserve to hear you're safe," Eric moved to hug me from behind. "Don't text back," he gave me a quick kiss on the lips, "You don't need to feel bad every time you see him." 

"Yeah, I know, but I feel like it's my fault that everything has happened," I turned my phone off and set it back down on the nightstand. When I responded with that, Eric clutched onto me tighter. Well, now I know he's a possessive one. Those human emotions aren't so foreign to him anymore, I guess. 

"Although, if I didn't take the SQUIP, I wouldn't be here with the best boyfriend ever," I leaned into his touch and breathed in the scent of his hair. At least he has the motivation to keep it clean. 

"Yeah, but I'm getting upset now because of how Michael is treating you!" he pulled me down with him to cuddle. Then he moved out of the spooning position to get out of bed. We probably should be getting ready for school. It's like 6:35 AM or something. The last time I checked, it was 6:20. 

I watched my boyfriend frantically move around in front of me, yelling hysterics and shit. Usually, this would be amusing to watch. Although, in this situation, I don't think I should be poking fun. Also, it's nice to know he cares about me this much. He truly is the protective type.

"He thinks he has the audacity to ask how you're doing after HE is the one that made you feel this way!" he walked back and forth in front of me during this whole monologue. He's not wrong, I guess. He did come up with some convincing points. At least he could've let me help calm him down. 

On the other hand, I'm kind of selfish for not telling anyone about the SQUIP back in my head. I may or may not have spent more time with Eric than Michael too. Now Eric is my boyfriend, so I guess that'll give me some leeway? God, this is so confusing. Why must my best friend relevant me in drama at the start of the year? 

That reminds me, Eric's getting kind of loud. I don't think I would like it if my family walked in on us. Mom would be a case, Dad would scold me, and I think Evan would give me a pleading look. "H-Hey, uh..., babe, I think you're getting a little too loud?" my eyes followed him continue pacing as I used to when I first got him back. "It's hot and all that you would get all angry for me like this, but I don't want my family walking in-." 

_SMASH!_

Drywall flutters out from Eric's fist. The sound of the impact echos through my ears and my eyes widen in fear as he stares deeply into my wall he just punctured. His breathing is a little uneven, and I don't think it's healthy for him to be inhaling that much drywall. There are little splinters of wood fall from the hole. 

I feel my body start shivering. I never knew Eric was that strong. Especially in that way. What if we get into a fight, and he gets physical? He could kill me. If only I wasn't pissing my pants right now, I'd find that attractive. My stupid brain wouldn't think of anything to respond to the destruction in front of me. There's no way my parents didn't hear that. 

We're going to be late for school too at this point. I'm staying in these covers forever. 

Eric seemed to come back to reality and realize what he just did. His fist unclenched in the hole, and he pulled it out. He pulled it out so slowly it was like those cliche scenes in the movies. You know, when the character has the secret thing or something, and they surprise everyone with it? I watched him look at his fist. For a couple of seconds, he watched and clenched and unclenched it. 

Then he turned to my quivering, scared, and helpless body. Our eyes met, and I could see his regret, clear as day. It'll be a saddening conversation to explain to my parents that there's a fist-sized hole in the wall. Nobody said a word. We stared at each other until the silence became uncomfortable. 

"Jeremy, I'm so sorry," I looked at him with a confused expression. I accept his apology, but I just noticed the perfection with his fist. 

"Mother fucker, you punched a hole in my wall, and you're not bleeding!?" my mouth was left wide open. Eric chuckled worriedly and shook his hand. He winced and walked over to our dresser. 

"It sure as fucking hell hurt," he grabbed a plain red shirt and a white cardigan to wear over it. "Although, I don't believe it's broken," Eric said as he put the garment on. I got a good look at his chest and felt my cheeks heat up again. Mens' bare chests are the most beautiful thing on Earth. I have a sexy one in my room right now, and he's all for me, heh. 

"You make it hard for me to resist the urge to pound your twink ass," a crewneck was thrown to my face and a pair of skinny jeans. I stammer in trying to come up with a response to that, but Eric knew that I would be an unintelligible mess. Instead of not answering like he expected me to, I threw back a response. 

"Why not do it then?" I retorted. Immediately, I regretted saying that. Did-Did I just give him consent to take my virginity? My boyfriend stopped in his tracks, closed the dresser, and turned to me. I looked at the crewneck and threw it over my body. Then I didn't look at him as I struggled to put on the skinny jeans. 

I stiffened when I felt a hand smack against my ass. The hand gripped my cheek and sunk its nails in. Of course, it was none other than Eric. My face reddened when I looked up at him. "Could you warn me next time!?" I hissed at him and pouted. I've never had my ass slapped before, so it's a new experience for me. 

"Talk to me like that again, and I don't think I can hold back," he pressed his clothed crotch against my ass. I could feel the erection poking through his pants. If my face could turn any redder, I would've turned into a tomato. Eric had to talk dirty right when we're about to leave for school. 

"I could bend you over this bend right now, and you wouldn't stop me, wouldn't you?" he continued whispering suggestive things into my ear. Two can play that game. To tease him a little bit, I pressed against his growing boner. He seemed taken aback at the sudden action, but I continued. 

Next, Eric turned me around so that our chests were against each other. He used both of his hands to haul my legs around his waist. His hands grabbed my ass securely. "You seem all bark and no bite, babe," I give a little kiss to his nose. The older rolled his eyes and started carrying me out the door. Not before grabbing our backpacks and my phone. 

"Could we go to McDonald's for breakfast?" I asked as we left the room. "I'm not in the mood to see my family." They're probably not up yet because it's not even 7:00. My parents might be getting ready, but that's at best. It's a good excuse to get some pancakes. 

"You got money?" Eric poked his nose into my face to get my attention. I shook my head no. I don't have much money because I don't work a job. I'm sure I spent all my money when we went shopping at the mall. Wait, didn't Eric pay? I can't remember all too well. We made it down the stairs just in time. I heard my parents' alarms go off. 

Eric grabbed my shoes and shoved his feet into his. Then he walked out the front door. "What's the best way to go to McDonald's?" I tilted my head, while Eric sat me down. I readjusted my backpack so that it wouldn't fall off. It took a second for Eric to look at the best possibilities. 

"Do you actually want McDonald's?" Eric pinched the bridge of his nose and furrowed his eyebrows. How could he not appreciate the breakfast food at that place? Yeah, it's not god-tier, but it's the best out of everything else we have here. "Why can't we just get some shitty breakfast pastries at Starbucks?" "THAT IS ALSO RIGHT NEXT TO THIS NEIGHBORHOOD?"

I rolled my eyes and kissed him to calm him down. 

"We'll go to the Starbucks if that makes you happy," I grabbed his hand to link with mine. For the first time, I saw him blush. The no-emotion Andriod-ish- person blushed. This day is getting better and better. "You'll be paying because I don't have any fucking money." I stuck my tongue out at him. He countered back with a boop to my nose. The sneaky little turd. 

The walk wouldn't be so bad. 

After breakfast, we could head to school, and it wouldn't be so bad. Then I could tell my family all about our relationship. Later down the road, maybe a little earlier, Eric could take my V-card. Maybe today I could make up with Michael. 

"Come on, hun, let's go get you some shitty pastries," then we walked along the sidewalk and out of the neighborhood. 


End file.
